Subj : When light meet bytes: Intel debuts crucial optical tech that wil
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Wed Jul 03 2024 19:00:06

When light meet bytes: Intel debuts crucial optical tech that will boost AI 
performance  OCI chiplet can move up to 4Tbps and consume nearly 70% less 
power than rivals

Date:
Wed, 03 Jul 2024 17:55:50 +0000

Description:
Intel has unveiled its optical compute interconnect (OCI), the industry's 
first fully integrated bidirectional optical I/O chiplet.

FULL STORY
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Intel has unveiled the industry's first fully integrated bidirectional 
optical I/O chiplet at the recent Optical Fiber Communication Conference 
(OFC) 2024. 

This optical compute interconnect (OCI), showcased by Intels Integrated 
Photonics Solutions group, supports 64 channels of 32Gbps data transmission 
in both directions over up to 100 meters of fiber optics. 

The technology, which can be attached to CPUs and GPUs - a previously 
complicated task to achieve - addresses AI infrastructure's increasing demand 
for higher bandwidth, lower power consumption, and longer reach. Meeting AI 
demand 

It's well documented that AI-based applications, including LLMs and 
generative AI, are causing unprecedented demand in I/O bandwidth and driving 
the need for longer reach to support larger CPU/GPU clusters. Electrical I/O, 
which relies on copper traces, offers high bandwidth density and low power 
but is limited to short distances. Intel says its co-packaged optical I/O 
solution can transmit data over much longer distances with higher efficiency 
and reduced power consumption, vital for AI/ML infrastructure scaling. 

The OCI chiplet integrates a silicon photonics integrated circuit (PIC) with 
on-chip lasers and optical amplifiers, with an electrical IC. It supports 
4Tbps bidirectional data transfer, compatible with PCIe Gen5, using 8 
wavelengths at 200GHz spacing on a single fiber. It also consumes just 5 
pico-Joules (pJ) per bit, compared to 15 pJ/bit for pluggable optical 
transceiver modules. 

Intels OCI chiplet is only a prototype right now, but company says its 
working with select customers to co-package OCI with systems-on-chips (SoCs) 
and system-in-packages (SiPs). 

The ever-increasing movement of data from server to server is straining the 
capabilities of todays data center infrastructure, and current solutions are 
rapidly approaching the practical limits of electrical I/O performance," said 
Thomas Liljeberg, senior director of Product Management and Strategy at 
Intels Integrated Photonics Solutions Group. 

"However, Intels achievement empowers customers to seamlessly integrate 
co-packaged silicon photonics interconnect solutions into next-generation 
compute systems, and increases reach, enabling ML workload acceleration that 
promises to revolutionize high-performance AI infrastructure. More from 
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Intel is powering Olympic athletes with AI Intel could move away from regular 
CPU releases in a bid to serve customers better



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/when-light-meet-bytes-intel-debuts-crucial-optic
al-tech-that-will-boost-ai-performance-oci-chiplet-can-move-up-to-4tbps-and-co
nsume-nearly-70-less-power-than-rivals


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