OCP Global Summit 2026 | Lumentum | Matt Sysak | CPO and NPO Optical Sources

1. Put the Light Source Back on the Network Map

Sysak was the 11th speaker of the IPEC NPO workshop. Instead of repeating why CPO is good, he first drew a map of packaging form factors against network layers, because a light source's spec depends on which layer it sits in.

• Pluggable: the module retimes with a DSP; used in both the front-end and scale-out networks.

• TRO (partially retimed optics): light source and modulator sit in the module, while the ASIC provides linear drive.

• CPO / NPO: the optical engine sits next to the switch chip with a very short electrical channel, and the laser moves to an external source box at the front panel.

• OPO (On-Package Optics): optics go on the same package substrate as the ASIC, with a wide-and-slow electrical interface aimed at scale-up and scale-in.

▲ Lumentum maps four packaging options, pluggable, TRO, CPO/NPO and OPO, to front-end, scale-out and scale-up networks (Image source: Lumentum | 2026 OCP Global Summit presentation (p. 3, 05:22))

His call: the most natural home for CPO and NPO is scale-out, because back-end transceivers are the most homogeneous and the same PMD can be used at the switch and in the rack. Removing the DSP eliminates the most expensive and most power-hungry part of the module, at the cost of moving the laser out into a centralized supply. That is why the external light source became a standalone business in the CPO era.

2. Breaking Down the 400 mW UHP: Today's Baseline for CPO Lasers

Lumentum's UHP laser is the light source for NVIDIA's Spectrum-X Photonics CPO switch; the slide says it is "enabled by Lumentum's high-reliability, ultra-high-power laser." The four characteristic curves Sysak showed are effectively the industry's current spec sheet for a CPO source:

• Output power: at 50°C, a typical part crosses 400 mW at about 1.25 A, and the minimum-spec part still delivers about 500 mW at 2 A.

• Power conversion efficiency: PCE peaks at about 26–29% in the 150–200 mW range, stays above 20% at 400 mW, then slowly declines.

• Linewidth: the linewidth spectra from 150 to 400 mW look nearly identical, which matters for phase-noise-sensitive devices such as microring modulators (MRM).

• RIN: at 400 mW it mostly sits below -155 dB/Hz, with the bulk of the band between -157 and -165 dB/Hz.

▲ L-I, PCE, linewidth and RIN characteristics of Lumentum's 400 mW UHP laser at 50°C (Image source: Lumentum | 2026 OCP Global Summit presentation (p. 6, 08:14))

One detail is worth noticing: the PCE peak is not at 400 mW. Pushing the laser to 400 mW buys more splits, but each optical watt costs more electricity. Source design is really a balance between lanes per laser and electrical watts per optical watt.

3. Two Paths to the Next Step: More Power or More Wavelengths

Sysak put it bluntly: from the laser side there are only two directions, either raise power to increase the split count, or go wider and put more wavelengths on one fiber. Lumentum showed both at OFC 2026.

Source	Output power	Wavelength	Key specs	Shown at
UHP 400 mW	400 mW (50°C)	1310 nm, single wavelength	PCE above 20%, low linewidth, low RIN	Used in NVIDIA Spectrum-X CPO
SHP 800 mW	Above 0.8 W (50°C), above 1.0 W (25°C)	1310 nm O-band	Linewidth below 100 kHz, SMSR above 40 dB, mode-hop-free	OFC 2026
16-wavelength UHP	350 mW per laser; 23–24.5 dBm per fiber	16 DWDM channels	Wavelength control within ±25 GHz	OFC 2026
OCI 8-wavelength ELS	About +24 dBm per wavelength in fiber	1308–1334.78 nm	Multiple units overlap	ECOC 2026

▲ Two upgrade paths for Lumentum's CPO/NPO light sources: the 800 mW SHP pushes power, while the 16-wavelength and OCI 8-wavelength versions push wavelength count (Image source: Simple Tech Trend; data from Lumentum's 2026 OCP Global Summit presentation)

Power path: the 800 mW SHP delivers more than 1.0 W at 25°C and more than 0.8 W at 50°C. The slide's linewidth measurement was taken at 50°C and 3.0 A, far above the roughly 1.25 A operating point of the 400 mW part, so heat and the ELSFP thermal budget will be the real challenge; Lumentum stresses it remains ELSFP-compatible.

Wavelength path: the 16-wavelength version was described orally as 200 GHz spacing, and the slide gives 350 mW per laser and 23–24.5 dBm per fiber, or about 200–280 mW. That implies roughly 1–2.4 dB of loss from chip to fiber, an STT calculation from the slide numbers.

In Q&A Sysak gave a reference point: a typical pluggable runs about two channels off one 75 mW laser. At that ratio, 800 mW nominally feeds about 20 channels, and still a dozen or more after splitter loss. In his words, "you can split on the chip, so as long as the splitters have low loss, you can keep increasing the channel count."

4. OCI MSA: External Light Sources Start to Have a Spec

The third demo matters more for the industry. At ECOC 2026, Lumentum used the same UHP platform to build an external laser source for the OCI MSA: eight wavelengths in two groups, 1308, 1310.28, 1312.58, 1314.88 nm and 1327.69, 1330.05, 1332.41, 1334.78 nm, about 2.3 nm apart within each group, at about +24 dBm per wavelength in fiber.

▲ OCI MSA 8-wavelength external laser source: overlapping spectra of multiple samples across 1308–1334.78 nm (Image source: Lumentum | 2026 OCP Global Summit presentation (p. 9, 10:42))

The overlapping traces are different serial-numbered units; the slide labels SN01 through SN07, and Sysak said about 20 lasers were overlaid. The point of this chart is not power but consistency: when an external source must plug into optical engines from multiple vendors, the wavelengths have to be accurate enough to be interchangeable. We covered OCI's requirements for external sources in Tech Analysis | Meta, Broadcom and AMD Define the OCI 200G Line-Side Spec, and Lumentum has now delivered the first matching source samples.

5. NPO Is Lumentum's Expansion Path, Not a Threat

Sysak was open about CPO's weakness: CPO has only a few suppliers, while NPO, through the Open CPX MSA, brings the same benefits to a broader supplier base. Open CPX was founded by Ciena, Coherent, Marvell, Molex, Samtec and TeraHop, and Lumentum is listed as a contributor. We covered the MSA's design logic in ECOC2026 | Ciena Turns 6.4T Optical Engines Back into Shelf Parts with Open CPX.

For a source vendor the logic is simple: CPO optical engines are tied to a few system vendors, while NPO means more module makers need the same external source. Sysak's words: "whether it's in an external supply, in an NPO module, or in an external box feeding an NPO module, the economics and the drivers are all the same." In other words, it does not matter which package wins, as long as everyone needs high-power CW lasers.

He also raised a line unrelated to CW lasers: 1060 nm VCSELs. NPO modules are technology-agnostic, and Lumentum, Astera Labs and Corning ran a live optical PCIe demo at OCP: a 1060 nm VCSEL/PD optical engine in 3D FOWLP packaging with Astera Labs' Scorpio PCIe switch, multiple 32 Gb/s NRZ lanes, error-free PCIe 5.0 over OM3 multimode fiber, about 1 Tb/s/mm today with line of sight to about 4 Tb/s/mm, and an optical engine path to below 2.5 pJ/bit. For reliability data on this line, see ECOC2026 | 850 nm Fails by 1,600 Hours, 1060 nm Runs 5,000 Hours with Zero Failures.

6. Risks and Counterarguments

• No reliability data at 800 mW. The slides say "high reliability" but give no FIT, aging hours or failure rate; lifetime at double the power and much higher drive current is what CPO customers care about most and can verify least.

• Laser sparing was not discussed. The more lanes one laser feeds, the more lanes one failure takes down, and the talk did not explain how external source boxes handle redundancy and hot swap.

• No numbers on capacity or InP supply. One Q&A question was answered with "we don't disclose that," and the transcript does not capture the question itself; InP wafer capacity and expansion timing, the market's biggest question, also went unanswered.

• NPO with integrated lasers may not need this much power. As discussed in CPO Lasers Don't Have to Chase 400 mW: NPO Integrated Lasers, if NPO modules move the laser back inside, per-laser power needs could fall and squeeze the UHP premium.

• PCE declines at high power. PCE is about 20% at 400 mW and the slides give no efficiency for the 800 mW part; if efficiency keeps falling, part of the laser-count savings is eaten by the power bill.

7. What It Means for Taiwan's Supply Chain

• This spec set defines the bar for laser chips. 400 mW at 50°C, PCE above 20%, linewidth below 100 kHz, SMSR above 40 dB and mode-hop-free operation are the entry ticket for Taiwan's InP epitaxy and CW DFB laser chip makers into CPO/NPO external sources; the next step adds 800 mW and 16-wavelength ±25 GHz accuracy. The talk named no Taiwanese laser maker, and Taiwan's opening is a second-source slot once Open CPX widens the supplier base, provided reliability data can be shown.

• Taiwanese firms are already in the NPO ecosystem. The Open CPX contributor list includes Accton, BizLink, LOTES and FIT (Foxconn Interconnect), spanning switch systems, cable assembly and connectors. If NPO lands first in scale-out as Sysak expects, these positions will see shipments earlier than laser chips.

• Multi-wavelength is the harder part for Taiwanese makers. The 16-wavelength and OCI 8-wavelength sources demand wavelength consistency across the whole set and high fiber-coupling yield, which requires chip, packaging and test working together, while most Taiwanese laser makers still focus on single-wavelength CW DFB.

8. Conclusion

Sysak's talk lasted only 13 minutes, but it made the scoring rule for CPO sources clear: what counts is not watts per laser, but how many lanes one laser feeds and how much electricity each optical watt costs after splitting. Lumentum holds a full hand: 400 mW is already in NVIDIA's CPO switch, 800 mW and 16 wavelengths were shown at OFC, and OCI 8-wavelength source samples were delivered at ECOC.

Timing has to be separated. The 400 mW UHP is today, 800 mW and multi-wavelength are options for next-generation CPO/NPO, and the OCI source waits for the MSA spec and scale-up optical interconnect to land. Over the next 12 months, watch three things: when the 800 mW SHP publishes reliability data, whether a second OCI external source supplier appears, and whose external source the first Open CPX modules ship with.

It does not matter whether CPO or NPO wins; Lumentum is betting both sides need the same high-power laser.

This article is for technology and industry trend analysis only and does not constitute investment advice.