AI compute is growing 2.5X a year and electrical switching is hitting its limits. An OFC 2026 workshop showed how optical circuit switching (OCS), with its low latency and low power, is becoming a core technology for NVIDIA and the hyperscalers building next-generation AI supercomputers.

Can a VCSEL go 2 km? At OFC 2026, Furukawa Electric showed an ultra-compact 800G CPO transceiver that uses 1060-nm single-mode VCSELs to hit 4.1 pJ/bit over standard single-mode fiber, challenging silicon photonics in AI interconnects.

Airoha posted record Q2 revenue and EPS of NT$5.25, but the real story is the outlook: optical communications revenue to grow more than 4x in 2026 and another 3x in 2027. Earbuds fund today's cash flow; the upside is staked entirely on pluggable optical interconnect for AI data centers.