“The resulting growth of LLMs … is requiring exponential growth in high-speed connections between chips and data centers,” IBM Research engineer John Knickerbocker said.

IBM Research has developed co-packaged optics, new chip assembly and packaging advancements that could increase “beachfront density” – number of optical fibers that can connect at a chip’s edge – sixfold and improve artificial intelligence data center efficiency.

The Armonk, N.Y.-based tech giant’s Chiplet and Advanced Packaging team worked on the co-packaged optics, which replace older electric signal communication with the advanced light-transmitted data capabilities of optics, according to a statement. The new optics technology could prove more efficient in an era of energy- and bandwidth-intensive AI use cases. IBM is now receiving feedback on the technology from clients.

“Large language models have made AI very popular these days across the tech industry,” IBM Research engineer John Knickerbocker, a distinguished engineer of chiplets and advanced packaging, said in a statement. “The resulting growth of LLMs – and generative AI more broadly – is requiring exponential growth in high-speed connections between chips and data centers.”

[RELATED: IBM VP On Power11 Release: ‘It’s More Tools In Our Partners’ Belts’]

IBM Fiber Optics Unveiling

IBM Research has been investigating optical connectors for better chip-to-chip performance and device-to-device communication in data centers. Advanced chips still typically communicate with copper wires carrying electrical signals. Wire connections in servers can slow down graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerators, according to IBM.

Fueling IBM’s innovation is the polymer optical waveguide, next-generation optical links that line up optical fiber bundles at the edge of a silicon chip for direct communication through the polymer fibers. The IBM team has achieved tolerances of half a micron or less between fiber and connector.

The co-packaging element comes from transmitting light through multiple components with no loss due to improved durability from high-strength polymers reinforcing conventional glass fibers, according to IBM.

IBM’s advancements have passed industry-standard reliability stress testing, which hasn’t been true for optical links in the past, Knickerbocker said.

IBM plans to work with component suppliers to support production quantities of the technology, according to the vendor.

According to CRN’s 2024 Channel Chiefs, IBM is working to add more qualified partners and increase the overall percentage of company revenue that comes through the channel.