Optical communication

TrendForce says that microLED-based optical communication, offering low power consumption and low error rates, is emerging as one of the three major short-distance, high-speed intra-rack transmission solutions for scale-up data center networks, alongside active electrical cables (AEC) and VCSEL-based near-packaged optics (VCSEL NPO). 

The high demand for AI datacenter communication solutions, will drive fast growth, and Trendforce projects that microLED co-packaged optics (CPO) will start to scale up in the second half of 2028, and will quickly ramp up to $848 million by 2030. 

MicroLED Connect 2026, the premier industry event dedicated to microLED technologies, will bring together leading companies, researchers, and innovators from across the display and semiconductor ecosystems for a focused program of talks, networking, and technology insights.

As part of this year’s event, which will take place on 16-17 September at Eindhoven's High tech Campus, a dedicated full-day “Optical I/O Connect” session will highlight one of the most important emerging directions in the field.

US-based Palomino Laboratories announced that it has raised $15 million in a private placement offering. Following a merger with Unite Acquisition, the company is public (OTCQB: PALX).

Palomino Labs develops a GaN microLED-based optical transceiver platform for AI data center communication for high-speed, energy-efficient data transfer. Palomino has the right to use and license the University of California, Santa Barbara’s (UCSB) advanced microLED technology.

Kopin Corporation announced a strategic collaboration with Fabric.AI to develop microLED-based optical interconnect technology for AI infrastructure.  Kopin says that Fabric.AI placed a $15 million purchase order with Kopin to fund the demonstration chipset development.

Kopin and Fabric.AI jointly are jointly developing an optical interconnect technology (branded as Neural I/o) designed to replace traditional copper wiring between GPUs and high-performance processors in data centers. The technology leverages Kopin's microLED displays and bi-directional NeuralDisplay architecture, repurposing programmable microLED pixels as optical transceivers for data transmission.

US-based VCEL and Resonant Cavity LED developer InPHRED announced that it is expanding into the optical interconnects market, planning to utilize both of its technologies.

For micro-RC-LED optical I/O, InPHRED syas it is targeting an initial demonstration of a 200-lane array architecture with 0.3 numerical aperture on sapphire. The demonstration is expected to include initial proof metrics such as target coupling loss of below 3 dB and system energy efficiency of 4 pJ/bit.

A few years ago, Applied Materials slowed down its microLED project, as the company did not see an immediate demand for microLED production systems. 

According to an industry source, the company is now increasing its microLED involvement again, with a new focus on microLED-based optical I/O systems.

In September 2025, high-speed connectivity solution developer Credo announced that it has acquired microLED-based chip-to-chip optical interconnect developer Hyperlume. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

During Credo's recent SEC filing, Credo reveals that it has paid $92 million, in cash, to acquire Hyperlume. When Credo acquired the company, it had about $9 million in cash, from its $12.5 million seed round that it has raised earlier in 2025. This means that the value of Hyperlume was about $83 million.

China-based San’an Optoelectronics is collaborating with Tsinghua University and China Mobile to develop microLED-based optical communication solutions.

San'an has recently successfully developed a microLED based device with high-speed modulation capability. It is reported that the company's tests have demonstrated a 3dB modulation bandwidth exceeding 7 GHz. Based on communication models, San'an's NRZ-OOK data transmission rate is expected to surpass 10Gb/s/.

Taiwan-based Artilux, a company specializing in GeSi photonics technology and CMOS-based SWIR sensing, announced a new AI photonics computing platform called Inception.

Artilux says that its new Inception platform, based on novel hybrid optoelectronics, delivers orders-of-magnitude improvements in both power and area efficiencies compared to current standard computing platforms, without relying on advanced CMOS process nodes and active cooling. 

Ennostar is showcasing a microLED-based optical I/O solution, co-developed with AUO and Tyntek. The solution integrates Ennostar’s GaN-based microLED light source with Tyntek’s Micro Photodetector (Micro-PD), co-designed within AUO’s Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) module.

This solution targets ultra-short range high-speed interconnects (<10 meters), well-suited for applications such as Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) and Active Optical Cables (AOC). Ennostar has successfully demonstrated microLED-based performance at 1.25 Gbps per channel and will continue to enhance modulation speed and reliability through ongoing co-development with system partners.