Alchip and Ayar Labs debut first TSMC COUPE-based optical connectivity engine for AI chips
At TSMC’s European OIP Forum this week, Alchip and Ayar Labs demonstrated the industry’s first fully integrated optical connectivity solution built on TSMC’s Compact Universal Photonic Engine (COUPE) platform, signalling a major step forward for bringing silicon photonics into next-generation AI accelerators.
The demonstration combined Ayar Labs’ TeraPHY silicon-photonics optical I/O chip with Alchip’s electrical interface die and a detachable fibre connector to form a production-ready, in-package optical subsystem. The engine delivers up to 100 Tb/s of bandwidth per accelerator and uses the UCIe standard to link processors and external devices.
TSMC’s COUPE framework, introduced in 2024, was originally designed for major chipmakers able to build their own photonic and electronic ICs. Smaller AI accelerator developers typically lack the resources for this level of vertical integration, often relying on licensed IP rather than building optical subsystems themselves.
By offering a ready-made optical I/O solution, Alchip and Ayar Labs aim to bridge that gap and allow emerging chip designers to add high-bandwidth photonic connectivity without large upfront investment. The demonstration highlights the increasing maturity of co-packaged optics and the rapid adoption of silicon photonics as bandwidth demands in AI and cloud computing continue to grow.
