Palo Alto – April 3, 2025

Figure 1: Arriving at OFC on April 2nd, 2025, just 5 minutes after the Exhibition opened for the day

Happy 50th Birthday OFC

The world’s largest & most influential Optical Communication Conference and Exhibition, known to regulars simply as OFC is celebrating its 50th Birthday this week at an incredibly busy & buzzy Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. The transmission of data via low loss fiber optic cables was first demonstrated in 1970, 5 years later in 1975 OFC was born. For much of the past 50 years the focus of the conference has been on the telecommunications industry. How to transmit & distribute ever larger amounts of data, vast distances across oceans to connect countries, cities, our offices and our homes. Astonishing technical accomplishments have enabled email, the internet, video-streaming and much more.

Accelerated Infrastructure for the AI Era

But in 2025 OFC had a different focus: AI data centers. Marvell summed up the mood succinctly with their tag line “Accelerated Infrastructure for the AI Era”. As data transmission speeds have gotten faster and faster, more and more of the communication within a data center changes from electrical to optical. As speeds continue to increase the switch to optical communication takes place closer and closer to the processors. Just a few years ago a data center might have used a few hundred 100 Gbps (Giga bits per second) optical transceivers. Today a medium sized AI data center with 32 H100 Nvidia clusters needs over one hundred thousand 400 Gbps and 800 Gbps optical transceivers at a total cost of around $70M.

4 Key 2025 OFC Observations

1) 800 Gbps and 1.6 Tera bits per second are the speeds everyone is talking about; the leaders are demonstrating 1.6 Tbps data transmission speeds.
2) Silicon Photonics components are rapidly moving from pilot to large-scale deployment
3) Big VC money is (still) available for start-ups with credible teams and roadmaps
4) As Quantum Computing gets close to becoming reality, the need to secure communications with quantum-derived randomness & quantum protected security is becoming urgent

4 Companies that Encompass these 4 Key Observations

1) ATOP – www.atoptechnology.com

Figure 2: ATOP’s 1.6 T OSFP224 DR8 Optical Transceiver
ATOP is a fast-growing optical transceiver designer headquartered in Singapore. ATOP owns manufacturing facilities but also works with US based Contract Manufacturers, to quickly ramp volume and to navigate the fast-changing tariff landscape. ATOP was proudly demonstrating a 1.6 T optical transceiver at OFC and cites their ability to develop, manufacture & bring to market next generation products quickly with very high quality and reliability as a key competitive advantage. ATOP invests heavily in R&D and is on track to deliver 3.2 Tbps samples within 12 months.

2) VPIphotonics – www.vpiphotonics.com

Figure 3: VPI Photonics Software Portfolio

Founded in 2002, owned by SaM Solutions since 2013 and headquartered in Berlin, Germany, VPIphotonics is a leading supplier of photonics design software. A key advantage is that you can design everything from wave guides to PICs (Photonics Integrated Circuits) to optical systems through to short-range and long-haul optical transmission systems. VPIphotonics powerful automated design, analysis & virtual testing tools can even produce designs that are optimized for specific foundries. VPI is reducing the time and cost needed for silicon photonics innovators to get to market.

3) Lightmatter – www.lightmatter.co

Figure 4: Lightmatter’s Just Released Passage M1000

Founded in 2017 & headquartered in Mountain View, California. Lightmatter raised $400M in 2024 and is now worth $4.4B. Lightmatter is solving the problem of how to get a massive amount of data bandwidth attached directly to an AI processor using a small physical form factor, whilst reducing energy use. Lightmatter’s 3D photonics chips will enable switching from electrical signals to optical signals at the processor. On the opening day of OFC Lightmatter announced the PassageTM M1000, a groundbreaking 3D photonic chip that it is hoped will sit directly under the next generation of AI processors to enable 114 Tbps total optical bandwidth. The groundbreaking photonics will be manufactured by GlobalFoundries with whom Lightmatter has a long-standing partnership.

4) ID Quantique – www.idquantique.com

Figure 5: ID Quantique’s Cerberis XG QKD System that can distribute 14,000 keys per hour

ID Quantique is a true pioneer based in Geneva, Switzerland, that has been active in quantum sensing and quantum encryption for well over 20 years. Yes you read that right, 20 years ago when quantum computers were far from reality, ID Quantique was counting single photons and generating truly random numbers, leading the advancement of both quantum science as well as the deployment of quantum technology in the real-world. Today ID Quantique products and solutions can be found all over the world, their Quantum Random Number Generation chips are used in mobile phones, cars and IoT. Whilst their Quantum-Safe Security products are increasingly used to protect telecommunications, healthcare, data centers and many other forms of critical infrastructure. These networks need both strong, truly random encryption keys and the ultra-secure distribution of these keys using quantum methods which prevent unauthorized access to the keys.

And Finally…

In a post-COVID, Gen AI obsessed world, OFC is back, bigger, busier and as innovative as ever. The AI race is driving a new real need for the accelerated the development of innovative optical solutions that will enable new photonic architectures, less energy use and quantum-safe security.