OCP APAC: Copper vs. Optics Contradictions
Everybody is scrambling for ways to hook up stuff.
There was a lot of networking content at OCP APAC and for good reason. Gilad Shainer, SVP of Networking in Nvidia explained that it’s much more than just hooking stuff up: networking is compute, and is the only way scaling laws can continue into the future. Hock Tan of Broadcom has also said “network is the computer” before.
Given its importance, the exact underlying technologies are still open to debate, sometimes even contradictory. The networking theme ranged from “Copper is not going anywhere” to “Optics everywhere,” and everything in between. We’ll go through some talks from OCP APAC Day 1 that dance around this theme.
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Themes we cover in this report:
Copper will not only survive, but thrive. SemiAnalysis about copper-optics coexisting for the foreseeable future.
Copper is dead. Lets go to optics. Astera Labs talk that declares copper dead, and goes to NPO/CPO.
Optics, but make it quick: Fast OCS switching for scale up by a company called Linque.
Not copper, not optics. There may be a third door. Point2 e-tube technology had a talk and show floor demo. 4K video of hardware included.
