New connectorized LightBundle™ eKit advances microLED interconnect technology toward deployable connectivity for next-generation AI infrastructure

Live demonstration at ECOC 2026 will showcase an inline detachable, reconnectable microLED optical link for AI scale-in and scale-up applications

SUNNYVALE, Calif.: #innovation--Avicena, the pioneer in microLED-based optical interconnects, today announced that it will demonstrate the industry’s first connectorized microLED optical interconnect. The new LightBundle™ eKit implementation combines Avicena’s high-density, laser-free microLED transceiver technology with an inline detachable optical interface, providing a practical path to assembling, testing, servicing, and upgrading optical connectivity in next-generation AI systems.

Avicena will demonstrate the connectorized LightBundle eKit at Stand 1365 during ECOC Exhibition 2026, taking place September 21–23 at the Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga in Málaga, Spain.

The announcement builds on Avicena’s recent shipment of the world’s first 1 Tbps microLED optical interconnect evaluation kits. Those systems incorporate as many as 335 independent microLED data channels operating at up to 3 Gbps per channel coupled through Avicena’s multicore fiber technology to integrated photodetector arrays. The connector uses an industry standard MPO form factor combined with a ferrule optimized for multicore fiber bundles.

By adding a connectorized optical interface, Avicena is advancing the LightBundle technology platform to meet the critical deployment requirements of AI infrastructure.

Bringing Serviceable Optical Connectivity Closer to the Silicon

Artificial intelligence systems require rapidly increasing bandwidth between XPUs, memory, network interfaces, and switch fabrics. As these systems scale, conventional copper interconnects face growing limitations in reach, routing density, signal integrity, and energy efficiency.

Optics can overcome copper’s reach limitations, but conventional optical technologies based on lasers and silicon photonics can introduce significant power, thermal, cost, packaging, and reliability challenges-particularly when optical connectivity must be placed close to high-performance compute and memory silicon.

LightBundle replaces lasers with dense arrays of microLED transmitters coupled through multicore fiber to integrated photodetector arrays. Its wide-and-slow architecture distributes bandwidth across hundreds of low-power optical channels, enabling high aggregate throughput without requiring the extremely high per-lane speeds and complex signal processing associated with conventional optical links.

The new connectorized implementation adds the modularity required for practical system integration. A detachable optical interface can simplify system assembly, enable independent testing of electronic and optical subsystems, improve field serviceability, and support flexible routing between packages, boards, trays, and racks.

“Introducing the world’s first connectorized microLED optical interconnect marks an important step in moving microLED connectivity from breakthrough technology to a deployable platform for AI infrastructure,” said Marco Chisari, CEO of Avicena. “Following the shipment of our 1 Tbps LightBundle evaluation kits, we are now demonstrating how the same fundamental architecture can be implemented with the modularity and serviceability required by system manufacturers. This advancement further extends Avicena’s leadership and brings energy-efficient, terabit-class optical connectivity closer to broad deployment across XPU-to-XPU, XPU-to-memory, XPU-to-CPU, and XPU-to-switch applications.”

Designed for AI Scale-In and Scale-Up

LightBundle is designed to support optical connectivity across both scale-in and scale-up architectures, including:

• Die-to-die and die-to-memory connectivity within or between packages
• XPU-to-XPU and XPU-to-CPU interconnects
• XPU-to-memory and memory-disaggregation architectures
• XPU-to-switch and NIC-to-switch connectivity
• Board-to-board, tray-to-tray, and rack-to-rack links

The platform’s integrated microLED and photodetector arrays are designed for low-power operation, high bandwidth density, robust performance at elevated temperatures, and flexible reach beyond the practical limits of high-speed copper.

Unlike laser-based architectures, LightBundle does not require external lasers, wavelength stabilization, optical modulators, or complex wavelength-division multiplexing. The architecture is also designed to integrate with a broad range of semiconductor processes and packaging approaches, allowing optical connectivity to be placed closer to compute, memory, and switching silicon.

“Adopting a new interconnect technology requires customers to understand how it will be manufactured, assembled, and serviced in their systems,” said Ben Bajarin, CEO and Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies. “Avicena’s work on a connectorized interface addresses an important part of that challenge and is a necessary step toward making microLED interconnect technology practical for AI infrastructure, where customers have different requirements for bandwidth, power, and system design.”

Live Demonstration at ECOC 2026

At ECOC 2026, Avicena will demonstrate a live inline connectorized LightBundle eKit link operating between microLED transmitter and integrated photodetector arrays. The demonstration will highlight:

• Detachment and reconnection of the optical interface
• Real-time data transmission across the connectorized link
• High-density parallel connectivity through multicore fiber
• Link performance and bit-error-rate monitoring
• Compact fiber routing for space-constrained AI systems
• Reliable operation without lasers or optical modulators

Attendees can see the demonstration and meet the Avicena team at Stand 1365 during ECOC Exhibition 2026, September 21–23, at FYCMA in Málaga, Spain.

Availability

Avicena is engaging with hyperscalers, AI accelerator companies, memory manufacturers, networking companies, system OEMs, and packaging partners to evaluate LightBundle implementations for future AI infrastructure.

Organizations interested in evaluating the technology or discussing system integration can contact Avicena at nigel@avicena.tech.

About Avicena

Avicena Tech Corp. is a privately held company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, pioneering microLED-based optical interconnects for next-generation AI infrastructure.

Avicena’s LightBundle™ technology tightly integrates microLED transmitters, silicon photodetectors, purpose-built silicon transceivers, and multicore fiber to deliver laser-free optical connectivity with low power, high reliability, scalability, and high bandwidth density. LightBundle is designed to help semiconductor and datacenter innovators overcome the limitations of copper and build the next generation of AI scale-in and scale-up systems.

Learn more at https://avicena.tech.

Fonte: Business Wire