GlobalFoundries has introduced its SCALE optical module solution for co-packaged optics (CPO), a silicon photonics platform aimed at optical scale-up interconnects in advanced AI data centers. The company describes SCALE—short for Silicon photonics Co-packaged Advanced Light Engine—as the first platform capable of meeting the Optical Compute Interconnect Multi-Source Agreement (OCI MSA), and says it exceeds the OCI MSA optical interconnect requirements for modern AI scale-up architectures.

SCALE is built on GlobalFoundries’ silicon photonics technology and uses both coarse and dense wavelength-division multiplexing (CWDM and DWDM). The design targets bi-directional data transmission over each optical fiber, with GlobalFoundries pointing to bandwidth-density and system-scalability gains compared with traditional copper interconnects.

On the DWDM side, GlobalFoundries has demonstrated 8λ and 16λ bi-directional DWDM natively on the platform. That matters because co-packaged optics only pays off when you can scale wavelengths and channels cleanly without turning the package into a fiber-management headache—or giving back the power and latency benefits you were chasing by moving off copper in the first place.

The SCALE CPO platform includes what GlobalFoundries calls a portfolio of “fully-qualified” photonic devices, including 50 Gbps and 100 Gbps micro-ring modulators, coupled ring resonators, and integrated photodiodes. It also includes through-silicon vias (TSVs) for high-speed signaling and power delivery, plus copper pad pitches ranging from 110 μm down to sub-45 μm to support 2.5D/3D stacking from organic substrates to silicon interposers. GlobalFoundries says the platform integrates electrical ICs on single-digit advanced nodes.

For fiber attachment, GlobalFoundries says it supports multiple approaches, with SCALE using broadband detachable fibers with flat insertion loss over the CWDM spectrum. The company says this is intended to scale from 4λ in each direction to 8λ and beyond, while maintaining serviceability and known-good-die testability.

“Today, our technology already exceeds the requirements set by the OCI MSA,” said Mike Hogan, chief business officer at GlobalFoundries.

Source: GlobalFoundries