Optical Modules — Numbers Bomb

*aiinframap-verified numbers in **bold**. Field-observed / single-source numbers are flagged and never asserted as our verification.*

The one number this topic now revolves around

• **102.4 Tb/s** — aggregate switching capacity of Broadcom's **Tomahawk 6 "Davisson"** Ethernet switch with **co-packaged optics**, reported as **shipping**. That is the headline silicon number for the 2026 optical-module conversation.

Earnings cadence — what you can actually line up

• **2026-05-06** — Coherent Corp. released **Q3 FY2026** results.
• Reporting period: **quarter ended 2026-03-31**.
• Filing tag: **iivi-20260331**. CIK: **0000820318**. Fiscal year-end: **06-30**.
• **Astera Labs (ALAB)** runs a **calendar** fiscal year, so its **Q1 2026** print is **directly comparable** to optical-module makers' March-quarter prints — useful for connectivity-IP vs. transceiver read-across.
• **Lumentum's** recent filing carries multiple **P5Y (5-year)** duration tags alongside small decimal rate values — read as convertible-debt / stock-comp disclosures when modeling cap structure.

Talent signal — dated and specific

• **2026-05-13** — A **"Distinguished Formal Verification"** role tagged **pcie / cxl / ai_infrastructure** went live. Distinguished-level (not staff, not principal) tells you the connectivity-IP build-out is at senior architect depth, not headcount-filling.

NVIDIA — what is verified vs. what is endorsement-only

• Verified: NVIDIA has **publicly endorsed co-packaged optics** and outlined plans to **use light for GPU-to-GPU communication**.
• Verified: a community story specifically ties **CPO chips to NVIDIA AI-datacenter deployments**, and a separate story claims NVIDIA **unveiled an optical network switch with co-packaged optical networking chips**.
• **Not yet aiinframap-verified at the numeric level**: any specific port-count, W/port, pJ/bit, $/port, or ship-date number attached to NVIDIA's CPO roadmap. Treat vendor-quoted CPO specs as roadmap, not measurement.

Field-observed numbers (NOT aiinframap-verified — attribution required)

• **10 m to 2 km** — the distance band where datacenter operators actually use optics; **inside a rack it is almost always copper** (*observed by a practitioner, not independently verified*).
• **Sub-10 m** — the intra-rack zone targeted by microLED-based link proposals (e.g., Avicena), claimed at **~10 Gb/s per lane** into **~50 µm fiber cores**, with detector arrays at **~1000 pixels** using blue light absorbed in silicon (*single-source field claim*).
• **$300 / port** (US-to-US) and **$500 / port** (US-to-EU) — AWS Data Transfer Terminal per-port charges cited by one practitioner reading the FAQ (*unverified by aiinframap; confirm against the live AWS pricing page before quoting*).

Dataset transparency

• This snapshot was built from **59 verified facts** and **21 material signals** on file for the optical-modules topic. The single hardest number across all of them is still **102.4** — Broadcom's CPO switch capacity, in Tb/s. Everything else is either a date, a filing ID, or a claim that needs a second source.