Active Electrical Cable (AEC) / Smart Cable Module (800G OSFP) — smart cable

Active Electrical Cable (AEC) / Smart Cable Module (800G OSFP) — smart cable

Companies committing: Astera Labs, Credo Technology.

Opportunity: In-rack and tray-to-tray copper is dead at 800G passive — AECs replace it. Credo built the public-market category, Astera is now stacking the same SKU.

Two-horse race for AEC at AI scale-out, with both companies hiring program/FAE roles, signaling design-in pipeline not just R&D. Smart cable is becoming a unit-shippable SKU rather than a vendor-bundled accessory.