Recently, BOE has been expanding its technological investments in next-generation display technologies such as Micro LED, optical interconnects, and glass core substrates, as well as in the field of back-end semiconductor packaging, starting to focus on the next-generation core technologies required for the AI infrastructure era. Consequently, CPO (Co-Packaged Optics) has once again sparked heated discussions.
Development of Micro LED CPO This Year
Currently, there are three mainstream light source technology routes for CPO, including silicon photonics + DFB lasers, VCSEL (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser), and Micro LED arrays. Micro LED CPO is a dedicated niche route for ultra-short-reach parallel interconnects. Although this technology is still in its early stages, it has already attracted more than a dozen giants across cloud services, optical communications, and LED displays, including Microsoft, Avicena, BOE, and Sanan Optoelectronics, to compete for a stake in the market.
Looking back at the development of Micro LED CPO this year, in March this year, Micro LED optical interconnects at OFC 2026 transitioned from a "technology preview" to "full-functional field testing." Avicena's booth featured the first-ever live demonstration, conducting field tests on a 512Gbps Micro LED parallel optical link. Gilad Shainer from NVIDIA publicly spoke on the Scale-Up interconnect architecture for AI clusters, indirectly validating the industrial value of the Micro LED route.
Subsequently, the OCI MSA was officially announced, jointly initiated by AMD, Broadcom, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and OpenAI, to define optical interconnect standards for Scale-Up scenarios, with Micro LED listed as one of the core light source routes for short reach (<50m). Entering the second quarter at Computex 2026, MediaTek exhibited a 400Gbps/fiber CPO sample, while PlayNitride, Brillink, and Ligent jointly showcased a CPO prototype.
In July, domestic supply chains also intensified their investments, with an increasing number of players entering the Micro LED CPO field.
Overview of Micro LED CPO Players
Compared with VCSEL and silicon photonics DFB, Micro LED boasts advantages such as low power consumption, high parallel channel density, compatibility with glass substrate packaging, and high-temperature resistance, perfectly matching the high-density, ultra-short-reach transmission requirements for AI board-to-board interconnects. However, limited by mass production processes and the maturity of supporting chips, it focuses solely on the short-reach niche market. In the medium to long term, it will develop in parallel and complement the scenarios of the other two routes.
China possesses a complete Micro LED industry chain, and Micro LED CPO technology has attracted the attention and increased investment of multiple manufacturers.
Overseas Platforms and Solution Providers
■ NVIDIA
At GTC 2026 this year, the Micro LED CPO route was publicly unveiled. The keynote outlined a two-tier CPO division of labor: the Rubin platform will be the main focus for 2026-2027, with silicon photonics + external DFB InP (Indium Phosphide) lasers as the light source; in 2028, the Feynman platform will be advanced, transitioning Scale-Up from copper cables to native CPO (silicon photonics solution). Micro LED CPO is positioned as the next-generation upgrade route for silicon photonics CPO, and NVIDIA explicitly listed it at GTC 2026 as a technological direction to reduce future power consumption by an additional 50%+.
■ Microsoft
Microsoft proposed the MOSAIC project in 2025, serving as a key architect for Micro LED CPO. MOSAIC outlines a clear blueprint for Micro LED optical communications. The project adopts a "Wide and Slow (WaS)" architecture optical link technology, replacing a few high-speed channels with hundreds of parallel low-speed optical channels, subverting the traditional "Narrow and Fast (NaF)" link model to achieve long-reach, low-power, and highly reliable transmission goals. This solution uses 400 parallel 2Gbps low-speed Micro LED channels to replace 8×100Gbps high-speed channels, with a 20×20 array area of less than 1mm². The project eliminates the need for DSP/ADC-DAC/CDR, resulting in a power consumption of only 3.1-5.3W, a 56-68% reduction compared to mainstream optical links. Currently, Microsoft has completed joint technical verification with MediaTek, targeting commercialization by the end of 2027.
■ TSMC
TSMC's COUPE platform is the foundry vehicle for the mass production of silicon photonics CPO (full mass production in Q3 2026). Meanwhile, TSMC is collaborating with Avicena, where Avicena provides the GaN Micro LED emission array and architecture design, while TSMC is responsible for 300mm silicon photonics wafer manufacturing, SoIC 3D stacking, and co-packaging integration.
■ Avicena
In May 2025, Avicena completed a $65 million Series B funding round led by Tiger Global, with investors including SK Hynix, Lam Research, and Hitachi Ventures, bringing its cumulative funding to $120 million. In March 2026, Avicena launched the world's first Micro LED optical interconnect evaluation kit (eKit), integrating 320 Micro LED channels (256 active + 64 spare redundancy), with a maximum of 3.5Gbps per channel and a base bandwidth of 512Gbps. In the same month, it signed a joint development agreement with ams OSRAM, leveraging the latter's mass production experience in automotive Micro LED to accelerate commercialization, and plans to launch an upgraded 896Gbps product in Q2.
■ MediaTek
On March 17, 2026, MediaTek officially announced: jointly launched a Micro LED AOC (Active Optical Cable) prototype with Microsoft Research, while simultaneously developing a co-packaged CPO form-factor optical engine. The entire architecture is collectively referred to as the MOSAIC parallel optical interconnect solution, and a 400Gbps/fiber sample was publicly showcased at Computex 2026. MediaTek's single set of Micro LED optoelectronic transceiver ASIC is compatible with three hardware form factors, including CPO co-packaging, NPO (Near-Package Optics), and AOC. MediaTek has a dual-line layout in the CPO track; its subsidiary Airoha's 800G DSP has been designed into the top five global module manufacturers, and it invested approximately $90 million in Ayar Labs (in the silicon photonics direction).
■ Credo
In Q3 2025, Credo acquired the Canadian startup Hyperlume (which supports 1.6Tbps scalable to 3.2T), completing its in-house R&D capabilities for the full set of Micro LED array emission/reception optical engines. It launched a new Micro LED optical interconnect product, ALC (Active Light Cable), which balances pluggable form factors with CPO co-packaging integration solutions. It plans to send samples in FY2027 (ending April 2027) and ramp up mass production in FY2028. Furthermore, in April 2026, it acquired the Israeli silicon photonics company DustPhotonics for $750 million in cash plus approximately 920,000 shares of common stock (with a total maximum consideration of approximately $1.3 billion including contingent consideration), integrating two sets of CPO technologies to form a complete computing power interconnect solution.
■ ams OSRAM
This year, ams OSRAM sold its industrial lighting and non-optical sensing businesses to raise approximately €670 million, eliminated inefficient consumer Micro LED display production lines, and freed up R&D and production line resources. Its four core growth tracks explicitly include Micro LED optical communications/CPO, using automotive LED cash flow to continuously feed back into computing power optical interconnect R&D. In automotive LEDs, ams OSRAM has nearly 15 years of Micro LED experience (EVIYOS headlight modules) and over 3 years of development in optical communications. It is currently jointly developing with Avicena, and this in-house solution is expected to be launched in 2027 (integrating Micro LED chips + optical components + dedicated ASIC).
■ Marvell
Marvell, a leader in optical communication DSPs, participated in the investment of Micro LED company Mojo Vision and was the largest investor in its dedicated Series B round in 2025, securing a position in the underlying light source technology of Micro LED. Since the Micro LED CPO architecture can eliminate the need for DSP chips, to avoid its core business being disrupted by technological iteration, Marvell is simultaneously deploying two CPO technology routes, forming a dual-line defensive layout.
In the short term, relying on mature silicon photonics + DFB coherent solutions, it has independently developed the COLORZ series silicon photonics engines, and 800G COLORZ products have achieved large-scale commercialization. Meanwhile, Marvell is a core interconnect chip supplier for the NVIDIA NVLink Fusion ecosystem, with supporting switch and accelerator card interconnect solutions being deployed in batches.
In the medium to long term, it signed a multi-year joint development agreement with Mojo Vision to jointly advance the Micro LED CPO optical interconnect solution, with product form factors simultaneously adapted for both co-packaged CPO and near-package NPO architectures.
Mainland China Supply Chain Enterprises
■ BOE
In July 2026, BOE established a special task force for Micro LED optical interconnects + glass-based CPO, and simultaneously collaborated with Corning to develop TGV (Through Glass Via) glass CPO substrates, leveraging the low-loss and high-heat dissipation characteristics of glass to make up for the shortcomings of silicon substrates. Reusing its massive transfer and micro-array processing capabilities from the display field, it integrates the entire process from substrate to optical engine, outputting complete solutions for AI server Chiplet and NVLink in-rack co-packaging scenarios. Its holding subsidiary HC Semitek has built the world's first 6-inch Micro LED mass production line, with a yield rate of over 90% for communication-grade MPD chips. Its independently developed high-speed modulated Micro LED is adapted for 800G/1.6T/3.2T CPO architectures, and related optical interconnect samples have been sent to leading overseas computing power customers for verification.
■ Sanan Optoelectronics
Sanan Optoelectronics is a leading LED chip company, with an IDM full-chain covering 6-inch Micro LED epitaxy and chip manufacturing, adapted for high-density parallel CPO arrays, and its large-scale supply capacity is industry-leading. Its subsidiary Sanan IC possesses optical communication chip foundry and packaging capabilities, providing one-stop supply of Micro LED emission/reception light sources, while also maintaining a dual-line layout for traditional DFB silicon photonics CPO light sources. Its Micro LED optical communication chips have been sampled in batches to international leading computing power and optical module customers such as NVIDIA and Microsoft for performance verification.
■ Mega Vision
In optical communications, Mega Vision has achieved vertical integration of InP DFB laser chips, optical devices, and high-speed optical modules. Its Nanchang 800G optical module base started construction in July, with a planned monthly capacity of 1.4 million high-speed modules, covering the demand for AI computing 800G and 1.6T modules. In May, Mega Vision Semiconductor and Hunan Normal University established a joint Micro LED CPO research laboratory, with university-enterprise collaboration covering the entire process of chip R&D, advanced co-packaging, optical module integration, and complete machine testing. Mega Vision Semiconductor is responsible for the mass production of Micro LED epitaxy and chips.
■ Changelight
Changelight independently developed 850nm infrared communication Micro LEDs as a low-power differentiated light source for CPO, and samples have been verified by leading domestic optical module manufacturers. In terms of strategic synergy, in May 2026, Changelight reached a strategic cooperation with Jinghe Optoelectronics to jointly build a Micro LED supply chain for both computing power and automotive scenarios, with Changelight responsible for Micro LED epitaxy and chip mass production. Additionally, according to investor Q&A, its optical chip business has a certain strategic synergy with Hisense's optical module business.
LED Enterprises in Taiwan, China
■ AUO
AUO has established an Innovation Research Institute to specifically tackle Micro LED CPO, with clear internal division of labor. Its subsidiary Ennostar provides GaN Micro LED emission light source chips; Tekcore is responsible for the supporting micro-PD optoelectronic reception array; AUO handles glass TGV/RDL interposer substrates, massive transfer, CPO module system integration, and microlens coupling design. Furthermore, in May, AUO reached a strategic cooperation with France's Aledia to jointly develop Micro LED displays, while simultaneously planning to extend into two major tracks: short-reach optical interconnects (optical communications) for AI data centers and AR optical engines. At Touch Taiwan 2026, they jointly exhibited a complete Micro LED optical interconnect CPO solution, scaling a single channel of 1.25Gbps in parallel to 800G/1.6T, with a transmission distance of ≤10 meters, targeting short-reach co-packaging scenarios inside AI server racks. Samples have been sent to overseas AI computing power customers for whole-machine verification, and the chairman disclosed commercialization within 2-3 years.
■ PlayNitride
In early 2026, PlayNitride reached an exclusive strategic cooperation with Brillink to jointly develop array-based Micro LED photonic interconnect CPO. At COMPUTEX 2026, the three parties (PlayNitride + Brillink + Ligent) exhibited a deployable CPO prototype. Currently, it has independently developed a high-efficiency green light communication-grade Micro LED emitter, paired with a GeSi APD silicon-based reception array, achieving a power consumption of <1pJ/bit per bit and a maximum transmission distance of 50 meters. It caters to both in-rack and inter-rack scenarios, compatible with CPO co-packaging and active optical cables. It is currently conducting system-level CPO integration tests with international AI and optical communication manufacturers, with commercialization expected within 2-3 years.
■ Innolux
Innolux has tied up with epitaxy manufacturer Best Epitaxy to ensure the supply of Micro LED chips, and is simultaneously collaborating with Brillink to develop high-density Micro LED optical interconnect arrays. It reuses panel glass substrates and massive transfer processes to enter the CPO substrate and optical engine packaging segments. Technically, it focuses on glass-based optical waveguides + free-space optical coupling solutions. At this stage, it mainly focuses on technology reserves and sample R&D, and has not yet launched a standardized commercial prototype.
Early Technology Layout
■ Aledia
In May 2026, it officially announced a strategic cooperation with AUO, initially developing nanowire Micro LED displays, with medium to long-term technology extending to short-reach optical interconnects for AI data center Micro LED CPO. Nanowire chips are smaller in size and have higher luminous efficiency, reserving the next-generation light source technology route for AUO.
■ Jucan Optoelectronics
It has completed the R&D of high-speed response Micro LED communication chips, featuring nanosecond-level response speeds, supporting single-channel short-reach transmission of over 10Gbps, adapted for low-power CPO scenarios in AI racks. Currently, it remains only at the stage of sample technology reserves.
■ Leyard
In investor Q&A, it stated that it has carried out R&D related to visible light communication with partners such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Micro LED CPO solution is still in the market and technology pre-research stage, and there is still a certain degree of uncertainty.
■ Ledman
On July 1, 2026, it signed an industry-university-research cooperation with the Institute of Nanoscience and Technology at SUSTech, focusing on Micro LED-based CPO optical communications, which is listed alongside TGV glass-based Micro LED and quantum dot displays as the three major research directions.
■ NationStar
In an institutional research survey, it stated that the internal Micro LED optical interconnect team is steadily advancing product manufacturing and sample testing. Moving forward, the company will continue to track the development trends of the Micro LED optical interconnect industry, actively connect with upstream and downstream industry chain resources, and carry out cooperation in the field of new optoelectronic packaging.
■ MLS
In an institutional research survey, MLS stated that it has completed the construction of a Micro LED technology platform, viewing Micro LED as a potential light source for high-speed optical interconnects in data centers. It has initiated pre-research on technologies related to Micro LED optical interconnects and high-speed optical modules, while simultaneously connecting with optical communication enterprises to seek joint development.
■ Saphlux
On June 25, it officially announced a deep strategic cooperation with Ennostar, focusing on the industrialization of semi-polar Micro LEDs, while simultaneously deploying in the two major tracks of AR micro-displays and optical communications. They are jointly developing low-power, high-performance light sources adapted for AR near-eye devices, AI data centers, and short-reach optical interconnects. In fact, there are numerous technology reserves for Micro LED CPO, including LED chip, packaging, and equipment manufacturers, as well as enterprises in optical devices, packaging materials, and passive optical components, which are not listed one by one here.
Conclusion
This year, OFC 2026 completed the first on-site demonstration of an engineering prototype, the OCI MSA implemented universal CPO standards compatible with the Micro LED route, multiple brands showcased related solutions at Computex, and supply chains intensified their investments in July. However, the industry's commercialization level is extremely low, with the overall CPO penetration rate at only 0.5%, and there are currently no commercial module shipments for Micro LED CPO. Microsoft's MOSAIC has verified the feasibility of Micro LED parallel transmission technology, and NVIDIA's computing power roadmap confirms the long-term demand for short-reach optical interconnects. The current stage mainly focuses on breaking through technological bottlenecks, including the three major challenges of massive transfer yield, optical coupling precision, and cost, which still urgently need to be resolved.
From 2026 to 2027, the industry will still be in an energy-accumulation cycle of sample iteration, process refinement, and customer verification. In the medium to long term, according to the plans of overseas giants, small-scale commercialization will be realized around 2028. Overseas enterprises hold the power of speech in architecture definition, standard formulation, and advanced packaging, while Chinese enterprises are accelerating breakthroughs in segmented links such as Micro LED light source chips and glass-based substrates, with capacity and industrialization pace continuously accelerating.