Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd (NASDAQ: CRDO) announced the launch of the Short-Reach Micro-Emitter Optics (SRMO) Workstream under the Open Compute Project (OCP), aimed at developing a specification for a new class of high-speed data center interconnects.

The workstream includes an unnamed leading hyperscaler along with optical technology companies AFL, ams OSRAM, BizLink, Foxlink, Heraeus Covantics, SENKO, and YOFC. The specification is targeted for OCP approval in 2027 and will address link power, efficiency, signaling, parallelism, physical form factors, connector footprint, link budget, and compliance.

The effort centers on micro-emitter technology, which uses arrays of micron-scale light sources operating in parallel rather than pushing a small number of optical channels to high individual data rates. According to the press release, this approach is intended to improve reliability, power efficiency, and bandwidth density in AI data center scale-up and scale-out applications.

"As AI workloads scale from thousands to tens of thousands of accelerators, the industry needs a standardized approach to wide, parallel optical connectivity," said L.K. Bhupathi, Associate Vice President of Product at Credo.

Ashkan Seyedi, Vice President and General Manager of Digital Photonics Interconnect at ams OSRAM, said the company is advancing micro-emitter, micro-receiver, and 3D packaging technologies and views participation in the workstream as part of its strategy for AI data center connectivity.

Obie Roy, Vice President of Strategic Commercial Development at SENKO Advanced Components, said the workstream aims to establish a common connector interface as channel counts scale into the thousands.

The SRMO Workstream is housed under the OCP Networking Project and is intended to give data center operators and system designers access to interoperable components with supply chain resiliency.