KDDI and Broadcom start an optical-networking trial for AI data centers
KDDI and Broadcom began joint verification of co-packaged optics for GPU networks on October 22. The technology places optical components close to a switching chip to shorten electrical transmission distances. KDDI will measure power use and network behavior in a data-center environment before using the findings to shape its network architecture. Verified savings have not yet been announced.
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Optical components move closer to the switching chip
Japanese telecommunications operator KDDI and US chipmaker Broadcom began joint verification of co-packaged optics for graphics-processing-unit networks on October 22. The technology combines optical and electrical components for communications between chips in AI data centers. Optical engines convert electrical signals into light and back. Placing them close to a switching chip shortens the distance traveled electrically. The companies aim to reduce networking power consumption. KDDI intends to use the trial’s findings to establish an optical-electrical network architecture for its own AI data centers. The work is part of the companies’ newly announced network-infrastructure technology partnership. This approach is known as Co-Packaged Optics, or CPO, placing optical-engine and switching functions together rather than separating them along a longer electrical path.[1], [2]
The trial measures power and distributed-workload traffic
The planned switch combines Broadcom’s Tomahawk 6 Ethernet switching chip with a Davisson optical-engine module in a KDDI data-center environment. Measurements will cover switch power consumption, packet loss, congestion control and effective throughput. Workloads are to represent distributed model training and inference, in which the network connects computing resources. The announcement provides the hardware and measurement scope, with neither an energy-saving percentage nor a commercial deployment date established yet. KDDI brings experience building and operating communications networks and data centers; Broadcom contributes semiconductor and networking expertise used in those facilities and communications equipment.[1]
The partnership also covers fiber links to homes
The companies will also examine next-generation fiber-to-the-home networking using Broadcom’s optical-conversion expertise. KDDI places that work within its effort to improve communications infrastructure from data centers to households. Its wider Digital Belt concept combines data centers, submarine cables and developing communications technologies to support a nationwide low-latency network and AI computing infrastructure. The companies plan to exhibit their partnership and verification work at KDDI SUMMIT 2026 on October 27 and 28, at the TAKANAWA GATEWAY Convention Center in Tokyo. The data-center trial’s power and traffic measurements have not yet been completed.[1]
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