ITTR, your post re Luxshare presenting an 800G LPO (Linear Drive Pluggable Optics) module at OCP this past week got my attention. 

LPO is something that POET is pursuing but we have not heard much about its development (nothing new for us). 

LPO removes the need for the DSP (digital signal processor) in pluggable optics. As we all know data transfer speed is very limited on the electrical side due to noise. The DSP removes the noise. The greater the distance from the switch to the optics the greater the noise. Pluggable optics at the rack faceplate are several inches from the switch. Noise is also increased the higher the data rate and this is significant. It is unknown if 200G lane rates will work with LPO due to noise which could be managed by the DSP but we got rid of the DSP for energy savings and cost savings. So with linear drive (also called direct drive) 100G per lane to the pluggable optics at the faceplate is probably the max that will be achieved. But let's call that point for POET. It's all about the size. 8 lanes of 100G in and out no problem. How about 16 lanes of 100G. Reducing power requirements equivalent to Co-packaged Optics while maintaining the benefits of pluggable optics has got the attention of many including Arista. One of the articles I linked suggests that the majority will not disclose their position on this approach yet. 

To recap: Currently pluggable optics require a DSP (digital signal processor) . They are an energy hog and consume up to 50% of the power of the pluggable optics which I think includes fan load. They run hot. POET quotes a 6 - 8W power reduction per module.  

So with this level of power reduction it becomes a very attractive alternative to Co-packaged Optics which do not require a DSP because the optics are very close to the switch. The closer the transceiver is to the switch the better the signal integrity. Another benefit to removing the DSP is a reduction in latency.

Luxshare is a customer:

"LuxshareTech is focused on expanding its 400G and 800G pluggable transceivers portfolio for the data center market," said Mike Gao, general manager of LuxshareTech's opto-electronic business unit. "We are pleased to work with Poet Technologies and use their highly integrated chiplet platform to enable us to achieve a solution with superior performance and ease of compact module assembly."

"The 400G and 800G FR4 RXOEs are the first of their kind to integrate photonic and electronic components on a single interposer chiplet. We expect customers to benefit from the simplified design, superior performance and lower cost offered by Poet's wafer-scale integration and passive assembly of components," said Raju Kankipati, vice-president of product management at Poet. "We are excited to work with LuxshareTech as a lead customer. LuxshareTech's experience in designing and manufacturing high-speed optical transceivers and Poet's innovative technology can be mutually beneficial in bringing high-volume and low-cost solutions to the data center market."

Here is a good article to explain LPO and industry insights.

https://www.lightcounting.com/resource/42/resourceFile/Research%20note%20on%20LPO%20webinar%20092923.pdf 

And I thought this article would be of interest re Luxshare…Tim Cook's visit to Luxshare

https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/apples-tim-cook-praises-upgrades-after-visiting-vision-pro-assembler-luxshare-in-china

 Hope this all makes sense.