IPEC Summit Achieves Consensus on International NPO Standards, Paving Way for Commercial Rollout

The NPO Standards Industry Summit, co-hosted by IPEC and OIF, concluded on September 10 in Shenzhen with a consensus on international standards for near-packaged optics (NPO), a move that could accelerate the commercialization of next-generation optical interconnects and ease the growing energy demands of AI supercomputing clusters. The event brought together global industry leaders, including experts from OIF, CAICT, Tencent, Alibaba Cloud, Baidu, Huawei, Broadcom, SENKO, Amphenol, and Yamaichi, who agreed on the need for standardized NPO solutions to ensure interoperability and scale.

The importance of this consensus lies in its potential to address critical bottlenecks in data center infrastructure. As SuperPoDs—large-scale computing clusters—continue to expand, traditional optical modules are consuming unsustainable amounts of energy, while co-packaged optics (CPO) face challenges such as a closed supply chain and complex operations and maintenance. NPO, by contrast, offers a balance of energy efficiency, port density, and compatibility with existing pluggable ecosystems, making it a near-term solution for SuperPoD interconnect.

Dr. Zhao Wenyu, Vice Chairman of IPEC and Deputy Director of the Technology and Standards Research Institute of CAICT, emphasized the urgency of collaboration: "As SuperPoDs continue to expand in scale, traditional optical modules are consuming huge amounts of energy, and co-packaged optics (CPO) faces constraints like a closed industry chain and complex operations and maintenance. In contrast, near-packaged optics (NPO) – with its excellent energy efficiency, a favorable trade-off in port density, and strong compatibility with existing pluggable ecosystems – is expected to become the preferred solution for SuperPoD interconnect in the near term, and coexist and evolve alongside CPO and other solutions in the long term. We call upon stakeholders across industry, academia, research institutions, and user groups, to join hands in developing NPO standards and driving the NPO ecosystem to evolve from 'usable' to 'easy-to-use at scale'."

The summit also highlighted technological advancements from key players. Jiang Zhibin, Optical Network Architect at Tencent, noted that as SuperPoDs scale and SerDes data rates increase, optical interconnect solutions will advance more rapidly towards 6.4T NPO, requiring opto-electronic collaborative design to overcome advanced packaging challenges. Dr. Man Jiangwei, Director of the Advanced Opto-Electronics Laboratory at Huawei, announced that Huawei has launched the industry's first high-bandwidth 7.2T NPO product, demonstrated at the IPEC exhibition booth, featuring high bandwidth, reliability, and availability with low latency, power consumption, and cost.

At the China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE), the IPEC booth showcased the latest NPO industry chain achievements, including high-density connector solutions from US and Japanese vendors, NPO modules of various capacities from Chinese vendors, and several NPO switches. This joint exhibition underscored the commercial maturity of NPO technology and strengthened industry confidence in building an open and prosperous ecosystem.

The consensus on international NPO standards and streamlined collaboration paths between standards organizations and the industry chain mark a significant step toward large-scale commercial use. By aligning global efforts, the summit has laid a foundation for a robust standards ecosystem that could drive the next wave of innovation in optical interconnects, benefiting the entire industry.