TAIPEI (TVBS News) — WinWay Technology (穎崴科技) Chief Technology Officer Collins Sun (孫家彬) said Friday (Sept. 4) that fiber alignment is a key bottleneck in testing co-packaged optics (CPO) technology at SEMICON 2026. Sun said the optical engine's fiber design currently lacks the precision required for efficient CPO testing.
Unlike integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing, which can produce components with highly consistent precision, Sun stated that each optical fiber still needs to be individually aligned with its corresponding test point. The additional alignment process is time-consuming and limits testing efficiency, making fiber alignment one of the challenges that must be addressed as CPO technology advances.
Despite the challenges, Sun said the transition to an "optical in, copper out" architecture will take time, with optical and copper connections likely to coexist for five to 10 years. Rather than copper disappearing completely, Sun noted that the key question is how quickly optical connections can be introduced and scaled across data center infrastructure. Sun also said production of related optical engines could begin as early as 2028, potentially accelerating the adoption of CPO technology in the semiconductor industry.
WinWay is also expanding its testing capabilities by developing HyperSocket, a high-end superconducting test socket designed for large chips used in AI and high-performance computing (HPC) applications. The company plans to further extend the technology to wafer-level testing.