[News] Micro LED CPO Goes Viral and Several LED Companies Reveal Development Progresses

Recently, TrendForce released its latest report noting that the rise of generative AI is placing mounting pressure on traditional short-range copper cabling used inside data center racks, which faces growing challenges in both energy efficiency and transmission density. By contrast, Micro LED-based CPO (Co-Packaged Optics) solutions feature extremely low energy consumption per unit of data transmission. Total power usage can be reduced to roughly 5% of that of copper-cable solutions. This substantial energy-saving advantage positions Micro LED CPO as a key alternative for short-reach optical interconnects in AI data centers.

The market has high expectations for new applications of Micro LED technology in AI computing infrastructure. In response, several listed companies have disclosed the latest progresses in their strategic deployments:

HC SemiTek

The company stated that its Micro LED optical interconnect business has entered the sample testing stage. According to its securities department, the first batch of product samples has already been delivered to customers, and the company is currently working with clients to further optimize the products. Earlier this year, HC SemiTek also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Newvisionu, leveraging combined strengths in chip manufacturing and driver design to jointly develop low-power optical interconnect modules tailored for intelligent computing centers.

MTC

MTC is accelerating its deployment in the optical communications sector. Building on its technological expertise in Micro LED chips and optical communications, the company has established a vertically integrated layout spanning optical chips to optical modules. Its 400G and 800G high-speed optical modules are expected to begin small-volume shipments in the second quarter of 2026, while forward-looking R&D on Micro LED optical interconnect technologies keeps underway.

Leyard

Leyard is leveraging technological synergies across related fields. The company noted that its self-developed Hi-Micro substrate-free Micro LED technology adopts a laser mass-transfer process, which shares strong technological commonality with the underlying CPO architecture. In addition to its LiFi optical communication technology reserves, Leyard has also secured mass-production capabilities for semi-polar gallium nitride wafers—suitable for optical interconnect chip applications—through its equity stake in Saphlux.

Upstream chip suppliers such as San’an and Changelight have also begun deploying in the Micro LED optical chip segment. For instance, San’an —working in collaboration with Tsinghua University and China Mobile—has achieved a breakthrough in Micro LED optoelectronic devices and high-speed optical communications. The team has successfully developed a Micro LED light source device capable of high-speed modulation. Testing results indicate that its 3 dB modulation bandwidth is expected to exceed 7 GHz.

Meanwhile, some companies have also clarified the actual relevance of their businesses to the CPO concept. Jufei Optoelectronics stated in an announcement that its Micro LED products are currently mainly used in display terminals and have not yet been applied in the CPO field, nor have they generated revenue related to CPO.

According to TrendForce, most Micro LED CPO solutions remain at the early design stage. However, several manufacturers have already entered reliability testing and sample-delivery phases.

Besides, TrendForce notes that although the technology holds significant promise, Micro LED devices used for optical communications differ from those used in displays. They require higher levels of integration with CMOS backplanes and greater fiber-coupling precision. Most current solutions remain at the design or sample-submission stage. Under highly favorable development conditions, small-scale deployment of rack-level optical communications could become feasible within the next two to three years.

(Photo Credit: Sanan Optoelectronics on LinkedIn)