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Linksys International general manager Wang Zhimin says company is developing CPO connectors for Nvidia and TSMC

Saturday, March 28, 2026 at 09:04 AM

Linksys International (Lianxun), a Taiwan-based optical connector specialist, is collaborating with Nvidia and TSMC on Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) solutions to address AI data center bottlenecks. The company's general manager, Wang Zhimin, revealed that after a successful partnership with Coherent, Nvidia approached Linksys to develop new connectors for CPO applications. Linksys is also in talks with silicon photonics startup Lightmatter. The company expects to reach mass production of CPO components by Q4 2026, with Nvidia targeting full-scale 2027 deployment to compete with Google's OCS architecture.

Context

At the 2026 OFC conference, Linksys International (a subsidiary of ACON-Holding) general manager Wang Zhimin revealed the company is developing next-generation CPO connectors for Nvidia and TSMC. Wang stated that Nvidia approached the firm after identifying them as the key manufacturer behind Coherent’s optical products. This follows Nvidia’s recent $2 billion strategic investment in Coherent on March 2, 2026, aimed at securing supply for AI data center infrastructure. Wang Zhimin noted that while current connectors use 4–8 slots, CPO applications require over 30 slots, presenting a significant technical hurdle. This partnership marks a transition for the Taiwan-based connector specialist from a secondary supplier to a direct collaborator with Nvidia. The company plans to install new automated production lines in June 2026 to meet Nvidia’s aggressive timeline for mass production by 2027. Wang expects the CPO business to account for 10% of monthly revenue by the end of this year. These developments highlight the intensifying race between Nvidia and Google to dominate optical interconnect architectures, which have become the primary bottleneck in scaling AI compute power.