Research and Markets has released a ten-year strategic analysis projecting that co-packaged optics will become a major g
On August 17, 2026, Research and Markets announced the addition of its new report, Co-Packaged Optics in the AI Data Center: A Ten-Year Market and Technology Forecast, to its portfolio via ResearchAndMarkets.com and GLOBE NEWSWIRE. The study examines how co-packaged optics is advancing to satisfy the bandwidth, latency, power, and interconnect requirements of next-generation artificial intelligence infrastructure. By placing optical interfaces closer to the electrical die, the architecture shortens high-speed electrical paths, supports denser optical fabrics, delivers greater aggregate bandwidth per accelerator, and lowers energy consumption per bit. These performance gains increasingly align with the technical and economic pressures facing large-scale AI deployments as clusters expand across multiple racks.
Despite growing industry momentum, co-packaged optics remains an emerging technology with evolving product architectures, manufacturing strategies, and standards. The report evaluates multiple commercialization scenarios and notes that while initial market activity targets anticipated 2025 and 2026 deployments, adoption timelines vary due to continuing uncertainty around standardization, product readiness, manufacturing complexity, and operational requirements. The publisher originally introduced a dedicated co-packaged optics market study in 2020 and now projects the technology will become a major interconnect solution worldwide starting in 2026, with updated forecasts extending through 2034.
The analysis covers packaging architectures including 2.5D and 3D integration, scale-up and scale-out network fabrics, optical engine supply chains, and deployment trajectories across hyperscale, conventional, and edge data centers. Technical discussions address thermal management, electrical interfaces, channel loss, external laser small form pluggable modules, multi-core fibers, pitch reduction, and module-integrated lasers. Standardization efforts highlighted include those from the Optical Internetworking Forum, such as Framework IA from 2022, the 3.2T CPO Module, the External Laser Small Form Pluggable IA from 2023, CEI-112G and CEI-224G electrical interfaces, and developments related to UCIe, Ultra Ethernet, and the Advanced Photonics Coalition. Major technology vendors including Nvidia, Broadcom, Intel, and Marvell are actively developing solutions and refining deployment strategies, with specific attention given to their respective optical engine approaches.
The report provides detailed market breakouts by application, data rate, technology, network segment, and data center type, incorporating the impact of accelerated computing and rapidly expanding AI workloads. It also explores non-AI applications such as high-performance computing, IoT, sensors, and disaggregated compute systems. Designed for data center operators, semiconductor companies, optical component suppliers, networking vendors, system integrators, investors, and strategic planners, the publication offers a comprehensive roadmap to help stakeholders evaluate commercialization opportunities and prepare for the expanding role of co-packaged optics in high-performance AI networking.