TSV is too expensive and glass can't embed dies, so Singapore's national team turned to mature fan-out packaging (FOWLP) for a 1.6T silicon photonic engine. Coupling loss < 2 dB, wafer-level automated testing and direct-drive friendly — the CPO race is shifting from “can it be built” to “who can build it cheaply.”

CPO volume production is held back by micro-lens pick-and-place and active alignment. AIST turns the lens-mirror into an opto-chiplet embedded during molding, routes light with an Optical RDL, and widens alignment tolerance to ±12 µm.