Global Unichip Corp. (GUC), the Advanced ASIC leader, and Ayar Labs, a leader in co-packaged optics (CPO) for large-scale AI workloads, have announced a strategic partnership to integrate CPO into GUC’s advanced ASIC design services.

This collaboration paves the way for high-bandwidth, low-latency, power-efficient optical interconnects in next-generation AI, HPC and networking applications where electrical signaling is reaching its limits. By integrating Ayar Labs’ TeraPHY™ optical engines into GUC’s advanced packaging and ASIC workflow, the companies are exploring critical areas to enable future CPO deployment.

“The CPO revolution is at our doorstep. Integrating Ayar Labs’ optical engines into our advanced packaging flows is a critical step,” said Igor Elkanovich, CTO of GUC. “Our new joint design allows us to address the challenges of CPO integration – architectural, power and signal integrity, mechanical and thermal – ensuring our future customers have access to a robust, high-bandwidth and power-efficient solution.”

The new XPU multi-chip package (MCP) design replaces traditional electrical interconnects with Ayar Labs’ optical engines attached directly to the MCP organic substrate. This architecture enables more than 100 Tbps full-duplex optical interface from the XPU package, more than an order of magnitude improvement over current XPUs.

UCIe-S (64 Gbps) provides bandwidth between the optical engines and I/O chiplets over the MCP substrate, while UCIe-A (64 Gbps) is used for communication between the I/O chiplet to the main AI die over local silicon interconnect (LSI) bridges. The design also addresses signal and power integrity challenges associated with the large-scale package. Thermal optimization is done at the XPU MCP level, and a new stiffener design incorporates optical engines’ requirements and enables detachable fiber connections while meeting mechanical stress and warpage requirements.

“The future of AI and data center scale-up will not be possible without optics to overcome the electrical I/O bottleneck,” said Vladimir Stojanovic, CTO and co-founder of Ayar Labs. “Working with GUC on advanced packaging and silicon technologies is an important step in demonstrating how our optical engines can accelerate the implementation of co-packaged optics for hyperscalers and AI scale-up.”

GUC will share more about these technology advancements during a presentation titled “Advanced Packaging Technologies for Modular and Powerful Compute” at the 2025 TSMC Open Innovation Platform (OIP) Ecosystem Forum in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.

About GUC (Global Unichip Corp.)

GLOBAL UNICHIP CORP. (GUC) is the Advanced ASIC Leader who provides the semiconductor industry with leading IC implementation and SoC manufacturing services, using advanced process and packaging technology. Based in Hsinchu, Taiwan, GUC has developed a global reputation with a presence in China, Europe, Japan, Korea, North America, and Vietnam. GUC is publicly traded on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under the symbol 3443. TSMC is GUC’s single largest shareholder who holds 35% of the company’s total shares. TSMC is also GUC’s sole foundry supplier as well as the closest partner in advanced process and packaging technologies.

For more information, visit: www.guc-asic.com

About Ayar Labs

Ayar Labs, a leader in optical engines for co-packaged optics, is transforming AI infrastructure by accelerating data movement in scale-up networks. Its industry-first optical I/O solution enables customers to maximize compute efficiency and performance while reducing costs, latency, and power consumption. Based on open standards and optimized for AI training and inference, Ayar Labs’ optical interconnect solutions are backed by a robust ecosystem to easily integrate into AI systems at scale. Ayar Labs was founded in 2015 and is funded by domestic and international venture capital firms, as well as strategic investors including AMD, Applied Ventures, Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, Intel Capital, and NVIDIA. For more information, visit www.ayarlabs.com

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