LightSpeed Photonics has introduced LightKonnect Fiber, a board-level optical interconnect intended to bring a fiber interface closer to the PCB in server and rack-scale architectures.
According to the company, LightKonnect uses a solderable optical interface designed for direct PCB attachment and terminates to a standard 24‑fiber MPO (MTP‑compatible) connector, aiming to leverage existing data center fiber infrastructure.
LightSpeed points to rising I/O density in AI training clusters and composable infrastructure, arguing that electrical interconnects are increasingly constrained by signal integrity limits, equalization overhead, and thermal budgets. It specifically calls out retimers, redrivers, and long copper traces as contributors to added latency and power draw.
LightSpeed positions board-level optical termination as a way to shorten high-speed electrical paths and reduce signal-conditioning requirements, with claimed benefits including higher bandwidth density, better link density, and a cleaner scaling path toward multi-terabit fabrics.
LightKonnect Fiber is available for engineering evaluation and system integration programs, targeting hyperscale data centers, AI-optimized compute clusters, high-performance storage fabrics, and next-generation rack architectures. The release cites Ethernet and “PCIe over fiber” use cases, but does not describe the PCIe transport method or provide supported data rates, reach/optical budget, or power comparisons versus pluggable optics.
Source: LightSpeed Photonics
