ASE Demonstrates CPO that Improves Energy Efficiency for AI applications
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. (ASE), a member of ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE: ASX, TAIEX: 3711), today announced that it has demonstrated a co-packaged optics (CPO) device that mounts multiple optical engines (OE) directly onto a substrate, enabling <5pJ/bit power consumption and significant bandwidth increases. With today’s processing power requirements being extremely amplified by AI pervasion, there is unprecedented demand for bandwidth that must be addressed. ASE’s new configuration enables crucial on-package energy efficiency and bandwidth expansion while addressing further data center challenges by delivering improvement related to latency, data throughput, and scalability.
According to IDC (Jan 2025), the proliferation of AI silicon in the data center will experience
As bandwidth demands grow exponentially, the current faceplate-pluggable (FPP) solutions show roadmap limitations in density, power, and cost. The increasing switch speeds also lead to an increase in SerDes interconnect power as a percentage of the total switch power. This is driving the need to move the optics from the FPP into the enclosure closer to the switch ASIC. On-board optics have been adopted as a first step, and ASE’s CPO provides an attractive option that has lower insertion loss, resulting in reduced power consumption and cost/bit. From a pJ/bit comparison, FPP solutions are currently 30pJ/bit, while on-board solutions are 20pJ/bit, but now scaling <5pJ/bit through CPO.
ASE’s CPO solves the assembly challenge of multiple optical engines with an ASIC in an integrated package with a large body configuration of >75mm X 75mm. The benefits for both the networking and data center markets are significant. For networking, it provides a potential option to improve or replace pluggable optics at 1.6Tb/s or 3.2 Tb/s, as well as an integration solution that enables ultra-low latency option for CPO. For compute, the platform can be used to integrate the CPUs, GPUs, XPUs with the optics into a single co-packaged solution through high-speed optical data links.
“Global demand for data center capacity could rise at
“Our industry has moved beyond classical compute into the high-performance compute era where data center demands are being highly influenced by advanced AI models and applications, power consumption, and ongoing cloud and edge compute dynamics,” added Yin Chang, Executive Vice President, ASE. “These present massive challenges, particularly related to power and cooling limitations, and require our industry to deliver breakthrough innovations that facilitate application and scale. At ASE, we are committed to taking silicon photonics to a new level and augmenting our customer value through delivering CPO technology that demonstrates superior energy efficiency at this critical juncture in AI permeation.”
ASE’s CPO is part of VIPack™, which is a scalable platform expanding in alignment with industry roadmaps, and supported by its Integrated Design Ecosystem™ (IDE), a collaborative design toolset optimized to systematically boost advanced package architecture.
ASE will be represented at the Optical Fiber Conference 2025 in San Francisco this week by Dr. CP Hung, VP of R&D, who will deliver a presentation titled, ‘Latest Advanced Packaging Solutions for AI’, scheduled for Thursday April 3rd 15:15 - 15:45 in the Packaging and Coupling Techniques session.
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About ASE, Inc.
ASE, Inc. is the leading global provider of semiconductor manufacturing services in assembly and test. Alongside a broad portfolio of established assembly and test technologies, ASE is also delivering innovative VIPack™, advanced packaging, and system-in-package solutions to meet growth momentum across a broad range of end markets, including AI, Automotive, 5G, High-Performance Computing, and more. To learn about our advances in SiP, Fanout, MEMS & Sensor, Flip Chip, and 2.5D, 3D & TSV technologies, all ultimately geared towards applications to improve lifestyle and efficiency, please visit: aseglobal.com or follow us on LinkedIn & X: @aseglobal.
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Source: Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc.