1.6T pluggable optics
Sivers Semiconductors said it is collaborating with Jabil to build a 1.6‑terabit pluggable optical transceiver module designed for AI data centres that emphasises high speed and low power. (x.com)
Data centers are replacing short copper links with light, and Sivers Semiconductors said on April 15 that Jabil will build a 1.6-terabit pluggable optical module around its lasers. (sivers-semiconductors.com) A pluggable optical transceiver is the removable box at the edge of a switch that turns electrical signals into optical ones for fiber. Jabil said its 1.6T products use the OSFP1600 form factor and can carry either one 1.6-terabit Ethernet or InfiniBand link or two 800-gigabit links. (jabil.com) Sivers said this version is a linear receive optical design, which strips out some digital signal processing on the receive side to cut power. The company said the module is aimed at next-generation hyperscale artificial-intelligence data centers and delivers a 2.5-times lower energy footprint. (sivers-semiconductors.com) That power claim lands in a market where switch speeds are rising to 200 gigabits per lane under the IEEE 802.3dj standard, pushing pluggable modules from 800 gigabits to 1.6 terabits. Jabil’s own 1.6T datasheets list eight electrical and optical lanes at 200 gigabits per second each. (jabil.com) The bottleneck is not only speed but heat. Sivers has been arguing that large-scale artificial-intelligence clusters need a shift from copper input-output links to optical ones, and it has tied that case to lower power use in dense racks. (sivers-semiconductors.com) Sivers’ role in the partnership is the laser. The company said Jabil plans to use its distributed feedback laser arrays, a type of on-chip light source tuned for high-speed fiber links, in the new module. (sivers-semiconductors.com) Jabil is not starting from zero. In February 2025, the company launched 1.6T pluggable transceivers for intra-data-center and artificial-intelligence connectivity, with products spanning DR8, DR8+, 2xDR4, 2xDR4+ and 2xFR4 variants. (investors.jabil.com) Sivers has been building out the same supply chain from the component side. In 2025 it signed an original-equipment-manufacturer partnership with O-Net Technologies for external laser modules used in co-packaged optics, which places optics closer to the switch chip to save more power than pluggables can. (sivers-semiconductors.com) The immediate bet is that pluggables still have room to improve before co-packaged optics takes over. Sivers and Jabil are pitching a module that keeps the familiar removable form factor while trying to cut one of artificial-intelligence networking’s biggest costs: watts per link. (sivers-semiconductors.com; jabil.com)
