OCP Global Summit 2026: Lightmatter Delivers Open Rack CPO Switch and XPU Scale-Up Server Through Independent Collaborations with Flex and Other Industry Partners

Summary:

• First ORv3 and MHS-based systems with Passage, Guide DR and vClick 
• Next gen 204.8 Tbps CPO switch tray in 1RU developed with Flex as a production validation system
• Next gen 102.4 Tbps CPO XPU tray with 4 accelerators leveraging DC-MHS chassis infrastructure provided by a major ODM partner

Lightmatter, a player in photonic (super)computing, unveiled Passage co-packaged optics (CPO), Guide DR external laser modules and vClick Optics integrated into a switch tray and an XPU tray built to Open Compute Project (OCP) rack and server specifications at the 2026 OCP Global Summit.Flex collaborated with Lightmatter on the CPO switch tray as a production validation platform. Separately, the CPO XPU tray, developed by Lightmatter leveraging Data Center Modular Hardware (DC-MHS) Infrastructure provided by another major ODM and expanded beam PRIZ T optical connector technology from Corning Incorporated, is the first PoC for the “Architecture Vision: Open Silicon Photonics for AI Systems” white paper contributed to OCP.

Showcased at Lightmatter booth A36, both designs are based on Open Rack Version 3 (ORv3) and Modular Hardware System (MHS) and use fiber connectivity from SENKO. Lightmatter and these partners also work together in the Open Silicon Photonics for AI Systems initiative, announced in August, which now includes more than 20 companies.

Lightmatter Passage CPO and Guide DR laser modules pack high-bandwidth, bidirectional (BiDi) optical connectivity into a compact footprint and are designed to work within existing and emerging AI system specifications and server designs in OCP. Together, they enable ultra-high bandwidth designs in 1 rack unit (RU) height: next gen scale-up 204.8T switch tray and an OCP, MGX-like 102.4T XPU tray. Collaboration on the switch tray leverages the engineering and manufacturing expertise of Flex, integrating eight Passage CPO BiDi engines powered by Guide DR laser modules in a liquid-cooled chassis. Compared to conventional ELSFP lasers and unidirectional fiber harnesses, next-generation switch systems, powered by Lightmatter Passage and Guide, are 2-4x more efficient in rack faceplate density.

“In an AI factory, interconnect bandwidth sets the ceiling on compute,” said Nick Harris, Ph.D., founder and CEO, Lightmatter. “Alignment towards a unified rack architecture for silicon photonics will accelerate adoption. That’s exactly what open silicon photonics is for. With Flex, we’re showing for the first time a Passage-based open switch tray that packs the optical bandwidth of a two-to-four rack unit design into one. We’re excited to partner with Flex to enable our joint customers to deploy photonics-enabled AI supercomputers.”

“Partnering with Lightmatter brings advanced silicon photonics integration into standard data center rack hardware,” said Colin Chapman, SVP, Flex. “We brought our engineering and manufacturing expertise to this production validation platform to validate a manufacturing path for integrating co-packaged optics into production systems at scale. Showing it at OCP Global Summit demonstrates how our joint work can help customers accelerate deployment of high-bandwidth photonics at scale, with more efficient use of rack space and cooling.”

Today, the size of AI scale-up systems is limited to one or two racks due to the reach limitations of massive copper backplanes. Independently, the XPU tray prototype replaces that copper with photonic interconnects, demonstrating the architecture outlined in the Open Silicon Photonics for AI Systems white paper. Lightmatter and its partners have collaborated on the infrastructure to integrate into the ORv3 and DC-MHS specs, enabling the development of an all-liquid-cooled compute tray built directly within a standardized chassis and showcased at the OCP Global Summit. The XPU tray houses four accelerator ASICs and two CPUs with 102.4 Tbps of combined scale-up bandwidth, interconnected by four BiDi Passage CPO engines and Guide DR laser modules that blind mate as they slide into the rack, eliminating the need for copper connections. Making its public debut at the summit, it is the industry’s first compute tray to carry four XPUs connected with 102.4 Tbps of scale-up optical bandwidth in a 2U rack height.

The two systems also mark industry-first displays of Guide DR and vClick Optics in OCP systems. Guide DR, a high-density laser in an innovative Laser Network Interface Card (“LNIC“) form factor, is showcased in both trays. Lightmatter’s vClick optics, a low-loss, detachable fiber connector compatible with mold-and-grind advanced packaging, connects the fiber to the XPU inside the compute tray. Lightmatter developed its vClick optics connector solution in collaboration with SENKO. The solution incorporates SENKO’s SEAT detachable optical interface and Metallic Pic Coupler (MPC) technologies, enabling the high-density, detachable optical interface required for advanced packaging and serviceable co-packaged optics deployments. High density fiber arrays and connectors for both systems are provided by SENKO and Corning. 

“Scaling photonics within the server tray requires connectivity that is dense, reliable and straightforward to service,” said Philip Ward, director, strategic marketing, SENKO. “SENKO brings a proven track record of developing advanced solutions for evolving network architectures. Our collaboration with Lightmatter on both systems has enabled us to apply that expertise from the outset, and we look forward to supporting the broader ecosystem as these designs progress towards deployment.”

“Optical fiber is poised to replace copper in AI infrastructure with connections that are as practical as they are powerful,” said Claude Echahamian, VP & GM, emerging businesses and EMEA, Corning Optical Communications. “Only fiber creates networks dense enough for next-gen bandwidth, reliable enough for production environments, and simple enough to service at rack scale.”

At the OCP Global Summit, Lightmatter presented two technical sessions on extending MHS server platforms for optical interconnect. The first, “Open Silicon Photonics for AI Systems: Extending the MHS Platform Contract,”. The second, “High-Speed Open Silicon Photonics Reference Designs,”.