TOKYO - A new generation of optoelectronic integration technology developed over four decades by Japanese companies is moving closer to commercialization, offering a way to transmit huge volumes of data with low latency while sharply reducing the electricity consumed by data centers as artificial intelligence drives explosive growth in computing demand.
Known as optoelectronic integration, the technology replaces part of the electrical transmission traditionally used inside computing and communications equipment with optical signals.
Using light for data transmission makes it possible to move large amounts of information at high speed and with low latency while significantly reducing power consumption.
The technology is attracting growing attention as rapid advances in AI are expected to cause a major increase in electricity demand from data centers.
Japanese companies have been among the earliest developers of the technology, and after around 40 years of research and development, the industry says a path toward commercialization has finally become visible this year.
NTT Innovative Devices, which has played a leading role in developing optoelectronic integration, has been working with Shinko Electric Industries and Taiwan-based Accton on advanced equipment using the technology.
The companies have now developed cutting-edge equipment designed to demonstrate how optical connections can replace electrical transmission over even short distances inside data center hardware.
One of the latest devices measures just 27 centimeters, but the use of optical transmission over that distance can substantially reduce electricity consumption compared with conventional electrical connections.
The technology is being positioned as a potential solution to one of the biggest challenges facing the expansion of AI infrastructure: how to process and transmit rapidly growing volumes of data without allowing data center electricity consumption to rise at the same pace.
NTT Innovative Devices, Shinko Electric Industries and Accton are continuing joint development as they examine how optoelectronic integration can be deployed commercially and expanded across future data center and communications infrastructure.
The latest equipment has now been publicly shown on television for the first time, highlighting how a technology that spent decades in research laboratories is beginning to move toward practical business applications.
Source: テレ東BIZ
