Astera Labs shows PCIe optical links on its path to NPO and CPO

First optical products for silicon photonics NPO

According to Astera Labs, silicon photonics (SiPh) is the mainstream optical technology for scale-up and scale-out. On October 8, 2026, the company launched its first optical products, the Aries PCIe Smart Optical Driver and Smart Optical TIA. Both are purpose-built for high-density SiPh NPO and enable optical egress from high-radix switch and compute platforms.

The announcement follows a high-radix linear pluggable optics (LPO) demonstration at Computex 2026. Jignesh Shah, Senior Director of Product Marketing in the Signal Connectivity Group, wrote that the demos across 2026 show a roadmap toward purpose-built optical interconnects, from LPO and NPO to high-radix, resilient CPO.

Two NPO demos built on Scorpio switches

At OCP 2026, Astera Labs presented two SiPh NPO demonstrations that use its Scorpio Smart Fabric Switches.

• PCIe over SiPh NPO: a 50m PCIe 6 optical link with a high-density x32 SiPh NPO, enabled by the Scorpio X-Series 320L Smart Fabric Switch. In a live demo, the company showed a PCIe 6 link up with pre-FEC BER better than 1e-10 and excellent RX eyes. Astera Labs says the topology is also capable of PCIe 7 performance.
• NPO switch tray: a mechanical mock-up of a high-radix tray with 2x Scorpio X-Series 320L switches and components from partners Accton, TE, Molex, Samtec and Coherent. Each switch was surrounded by 9x x32 SiPh NPO, for a total of 576 lanes. The system used a cold plate-cooled 1.5 OU tray and detailed fiber management from NPO to front panel MMC connectors and ELSFP.

VCSEL alternative and a detachable CPO coupler

SiPh NPO needs indium phosphide lasers, and Astera Labs describes that supply chain as constrained. As an alternative, it built a proof-of-concept PCIe link over 1060nm 2D array VCSEL NPO. The company says VCSELs have no supply chain constraints, making them a strong option for low-power, high-density NPO and CPO for scale-up. In a live demo, a 20m PCIe 5 optical link ran error-free at x8 with excellent RX eyes, enabled by a Scorpio Smart Fabric Switch.

For CPO, Astera Labs says its technology will build on lessons from SiPh NPO and high-radix Scorpio deployment. Because soldered-down NPO and CPO need to be serviceable at scale, the company argues a detachable optical solution is highly desirable. It points to its acquisition of aiXscale Photonics and its partnership with US Conec as the basis for high-density, ganged, detachable fiber connectivity.

The company exhibited a fiber-to-chip coupler with a precision-molded glass multi-lens array, which is still under development. Astera Labs says topologies using it scale to 100T, 200T and 400T switch architectures, and that the parts can be installed by human operators or automated tooling in high-volume manufacturing.

COSMOS software and what it means for deployment

Astera Labs says its COSMOS Link Intelligence software will provide a unified foundation for managing its full portfolio. For optical products, it says dynamic tuning and end-to-end link management improve system resiliency, and that the software gives hyperscalers confidence to deploy at scale.

For customers building AI systems that outgrow a single rack, the demos show the company's approach: PCIe-based optical links on silicon photonics now, a VCSEL route if laser supply stays tight, and detachable connectors for CPO later. The source gives no pricing or volume figures, and the CPO coupler remains in development.