The 400G-per-lane era is here. At OFC 2026, Coherent showed InP components with more than 100 GHz of bandwidth - but how do you keep TDECQ low while absorbing a 5 dB sensitivity penalty? A deep dive into the technical and commercial tradeoffs of IM/DD for AI interconnects.

AI compute demand is forcing Ethernet to evolve faster than ever, and OFC 2026 marked the official start of 400G-per-lane work. Experts from Meta, Cisco, Synopsys and Dell'Oro explain how 1.6T and 3.2T networks will scale under hard power and space limits.

Not one of the 14 talks debated whether CPO should happen, and that was the summit's most important signal. TSMC put 3.2 Tb/s on its 2026 roadmap, Advantest pegged test validation for 2027, and ficonTEC expects to ship half of its 25-year equipment total in the next 18 months. Once the debate ends, the winners shift from storytellers to whoever can deliver yield.