Lumentum Holdings (NASDAQ: LITE), Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) announced plans to jointly demonstrate a high-density optical die-to-die interconnect system for AI scale-up architectures at ECOC 2026 in Málaga, Spain.

The board-level demonstration will combine Qualcomm Technologies' die-to-die interface IP subsystem with Lumentum's VCSEL-based optical interconnect platform and Corning's multimode fiber connectivity. The demonstration will be visible at Lumentum's stand #2050 and Qualcomm Technologies' stand #1050 / MB28 during the event.

The proof-of-concept uses optical channels operating at 32 Gb/s NRZ and is designed to support approximately 1 Tb/s/mm of shoreline bandwidth density, with a stated path toward approximately 4 Tb/s/mm through higher lane rates and increased channel density. The architecture targets future co-packaged optics and near-packaged optics implementations supporting emerging die-to-die interfaces such as UCIe, extending connectivity over optical links spanning tens of meters.

Lumentum's optical engine is based on 1060 nm VCSEL technology with approximately 10 Tb/s of aggregate transmit and receive capacity, using two-dimensional VCSEL and photodetector arrays with backside lens technology. The company states the platform is built on its existing 3D sensing manufacturing base.

Corning's multimode fiber glass ferrules will provide the fiber connectivity used in the demonstration.

"This demonstration shows how Lumentum's 1060 nm VCSEL platform can bring high-density optical connectivity closer to AI compute," said Matt Sysak, Chief Technology Officer at Lumentum.

"AI scale-up requires die-to-die connectivity that delivers high bandwidth density while minimizing latency, power, and area," said Tony Chan Carusone, SVP of Technology at Qualcomm Technologies.

The announcement was made via a press release issued by Lumentum.