Japanese companies are moving closer to commercializing photonics-electronics convergence technology that replaces part of conventional electrical data transmission with optical signals, potentially allowing huge volumes of data to move with lower latency while sharply reducing power consumption as artificial intelligence drives rapid growth in electricity demand from data centers.
The technology has been under research and development for around 40 years, and companies involved in the effort say a path toward commercialization is finally becoming visible this year.
NTT Innovative Devices, Shinko Electric Industries and Taiwan's Accton have been working together on the latest equipment, with NTT Innovative Devices taking a leading role in developing the underlying photonics-electronics convergence technology.
One major demonstration took place at the NTT Pavilion at the Osaka-Kansai Expo in 2025, where the technology operated together with a new computer architecture and software proposed by NTT.
Among the demonstrations was a virtual kabuki performance that linked performers in Japan and Taiwan through optical communications, allowing them to appear together remotely.
NTT also used the technology in exhibits that processed large volumes of visual data, including an attraction that analyzed visitors' facial expressions from photographs and displayed transformed versions of their images.
NTT Innovative Devices said the technology operated during the Expo without any significant problems.
The Expo also provided an opportunity to test a combination of technologies rather than photonics-electronics convergence alone.
NTT combined its proposed computer architecture, optical transmission technology capable of handling 50-terabit-class data flows and newly developed software.
Together, the three technologies reduced the overall power consumption of the computer system to about one-eighth that of a conventional system, according to NTT Innovative Devices.
The introduction of a photonics-electronics convergence switch by itself can reduce power consumption by roughly half, while optimizing software, system design and the overall server architecture can bring consumption down to around one-eighth, the companies said.
Reducing electricity use has become increasingly important as advances in AI are expected to drive explosive growth in the amount of computing performed in data centers.
Significant technical challenges remain before the technology can be deployed on a much larger commercial scale.
Reliability is one of the biggest issues.
An Accton representative said Broadcom and Meta announced in October 2025 that their co-packaged optics, or CPO, technology had achieved 1 million hours of operation.
For hyperscale data center operators, 1 million hours may still not be considered sufficient, but the result represented an important milestone, the representative said, adding that development efforts are continuing to build on that level of reliability.
Manufacturing costs are another challenge.
Connecting optical circuits accurately to optical fiber is technically difficult, and the companies are working to automate the process so the equipment can eventually be mass-produced at lower cost.
Further improvements will be needed to make large-scale manufacturing more economical even though the technology has already reached a stage where practical use is possible.
NTT Innovative Devices said optical fiber itself has become substantially cheaper, particularly when purchased in large quantities.
The focus is now increasingly shifting from experimentation to commercial production.
Companies interested in introducing the technology have already begun asking when equipment can be delivered and in what quantities, according to NTT Innovative Devices.
The company plans to begin commercialization during the current fiscal year.
It has also started investing several hundred million yen for each production line used to manufacture its optical engines.
By around 2030, NTT Innovative Devices aims to establish capacity to ship optical engines in volumes of roughly 1 million units, depending on how many production lines are installed.
The company sees that level of production as a realistic target over the next four years.
Shinko Electric Industries also plans to develop photonics-related products into a major new pillar of its business.
The company said a full supply chain for the technology has not yet been established, meaning investment decisions will depend on market conditions and customer demand.
However, development of the equipment itself is largely complete, according to Shinko Electric Industries.
The company said it has moved beyond the stage of conducting small-scale trials and is now considering actual production volumes and the investment needed to support them.
The companies have not disclosed how much the technology will cost customers or the precise level of financial savings users can expect.
Even so, the sharp reduction in electricity consumption demonstrated through the combination of optical technology, new computing architecture and software is raising expectations that photonics-electronics convergence could become an important technology for reducing the power burden of next-generation data centers.
Source: テレ東BIZ
