Astera Labs to extend PCIe 7 for copper and optical connections - SDxCentral

Astera Labs extending PCIe 7 into optical interconnects is not an incremental spec update—it is a structural signal that data-center connectivity is pivoting from copper-dominant to a parallel copper-optical architecture. Technical cascade: mapping 224Gbps SerDes into the optical domain forces single-lane modules beyond 1.6T, making silicon photonics and co-packaged optics a design necessity rather than an option. Upstream, InP laser and EML chip capacity becomes the binding constraint; downstream, GPU interconnect topologies get redrawn, directly pressuring NVIDIA's NVLink closed ecosystem. Supply-chain risk: high-speed EML and silicon-photonic modulator capacity remains concentrated in a handful of foundries. With US export controls tightening, yield-ramp speed at foundries in China's Taiwan and mainland will determine the 2026 capacity gap. On the copper side, LCP/PTFE material suppliers gain pricing leverage. Competitive dynamics: Broadcom's Credo line and Marvell's DPU interconnect roadmap will be forced to ship optical variants within 12 months or lose AI-cluster interconnect share. Module leaders like Innolight and Coherent will front-load 1.6T optical-engine orders. 12-to-24-month outlook: PCIe 7 optical will pull CPO from lab to volume production, confine copper to sub-1-meter links, and shift optical components' share of interconnect BOM from roughly 15% to over 35%.