On October 12, 2026, Credo took the lead in establishing the Short-Reach Micro-Emitter Optics (SRMO) workstream under the OCP community, with the goal of obtaining OCP approval in 2027. Founding members include AFL, ams OSRAM, BizLink, Foxlink, Heraeus Covantics, SENKO, and YOFC, comprising 7 optical communication companies and 1 hyperscale cloud provider (unnamed).
▋ Locking in the "Wider and Slower" Approach
Credo initiated the SRMO standardization project, aiming to establish open technical specifications for multi-vendor interoperability in short-reach interconnects for next-generation high-speed data centers. Targeting AI cluster Scale-Up scenarios, it addresses the massive data transmission bottleneck between GPU accelerators. In the past, optical interconnects in AI data centers followed a "fast and narrow" approach, pushing a few high-bandwidth channels to their physical limits.
SRMO adopts a "wider and slower" approach. Credo CEO Bill Brennan also stated in his speech at OCP Summit Day 1: "'Wider, slower, better' is the theme." The "wider and slower" approach splits a single 200G channel into dozens or even hundreds of parallel low-speed optical channels, using simple NRZ modulation without the need for complex signal processing, achieving power consumption and costs close to those of copper cables.
The Credo 1.6T ZeroFlap ALC is a representative product of the SRMO concept. Released concurrently with the standardization effort, it is claimed to be the industry's first row-scale, wide-parallel, micro-emitter optical Active Light Cable (ALC), filling the gap between the distance limits of copper cables and the power consumption/cost of traditional pluggable optical modules.
ams OSRAM released an official statement of joining on the 13th. The technical assets contributed by ams OSRAM this time include an 850nm thin-film VCSEL platform, 2D addressable microLED/microVCSEL arrays, supporting microPhotodiode receiver arrays, CMOS process, and 3D packaging.
▋ The Position of SRMO in the OCP Optical Communication Standardization Ecosystem
SRMO is a newly added important branch in the optical interconnect sector of OCP 2026. Optical interconnects for AI clusters are entering a stage of multi-paradigm coexistence. The current ecological landscape of OCP optical communication standardization is divided as follows:
Protocol and Architecture Layer: ESUN (Meta + Microsoft), UALink (AMD + 115 industry partners), and NVLink Fusion (NVIDIA). The three major AI cluster Scale-Up interconnect architectures are advancing in parallel.
Link and Interconnect Layer: OCI (chip-scale) / XPO (high-density pluggable) / Open CPX (CPO/NPO interfaces) / SRMO (tray-to-row wide-parallel optical links). Physical Layer: OIF CEI-224G/448G, ACC MSA, and External Light Source (ELS) specifications.
SRMO occupies the ecological niche from short-reach trays to rack rows, an area previously lacking dedicated open standards in the industry. SRMO does not rely on traditional single-channel high-speed optical modules; instead, it treats light source arrays and optoelectronic components as independent standardized units. Photonic device manufacturers (such as ams OSRAM), interface chip manufacturers (Credo), and passive/component/connector manufacturers become the core of the ecosystem. Logically, this aligns with the trend of supply chain restructuring for NVIDIA Spectrum-X CPO. The new architecture is no longer monopolized by traditional optical module OEMs; optoelectronic components and light source arrays are independently separated.
However, SRMO and CPO/NPO represent two different technical philosophies. CPO/NPO pursues ultra-high data rates per single channel and reduces the number of channels; SRMO goes the opposite way, stacking bandwidth with a large number of low-speed parallel channels. It is more suitable for intra-tray interconnects with tightly coupled GPUs, serving as a direct replacement for copper cables.
Overall, the core consensus of this OCP is that the value of AI optical interconnects is shifting from traditional pluggable optical module OEMs to optical engines, light source arrays, precision assembly of sub-components, and high-density passive devices. This is particularly evident in SRMO.