Kyocera Develops Pluggable Optoelectronic Module Supporting PCIe® 6.0, Contributing to High-Speed, Power-Efficient AI Data Centers Japan Products/Solutions CO2[...]

Kyocera Corporation (President: Hideo Tanimoto, hereinafter "Kyocera") is pleased to announce the development of a pluggable optoelectronic module (OSFP-XD*¹) supporting the PCIe^®*² 6.0 standard as a new product in its OPTINITY^® optoelectronic module series, which contributes to optical communication implementation and power savings in data centers.

Kyocera has been developing onboard-type optoelectronic modules that support PCIe^® 5.0 and convert electrical signals from CPUs, GPUs, and other components into optical signals. With this latest development, by advancing the communication standard to PCIe^® 6.0, Kyocera has achieved a new level of high-speed, high-capacity communication. Further, the new module's pluggable configuration enhances design flexibility, system configuration versatility, and ease of implementation. Kyocera will continue developing onboard-type modules as well, aiming to provide optoelectronic interfaces for specific applications and system configurations.

This product was developed in collaboration with AuthenX, Inc., a company in which Kyocera has invested through Kyocera Venture Innovation Fund I (KVIF-I)^*3, the company's corporate venture capital (CVC) fund. The newly developed product will be exhibited at the AuthenX booth at OFC 2026, an international exhibition for the optical communications industry, which will be held in Los Angeles, USA, from March 17 to 19, 2026.

OPTINITY^® OSFP-XD

Conceptual Image of Optical Interconnection in a Data Center

■ Development Background

In recent years, with the advancement of generative AI and other technologies, the volume of data handled in data centers has been rapidly increasing. Accordingly, PCIe^® interfaces that connect high-performance computing devices such as GPUs and AI accelerators must support even higher data speeds and capacities.

Conventional PCIe^® connections using electrical wiring face the challenge of increased signal loss and power consumption as transmission distances increase. Additionally, retimers^*4 are needed to ensure communication stability, which increase latency and power consumption further. This limits flexibility for equipment placement within racks, making it difficult to optimize cooling efficiency and maintainability.

To address these challenges, PCIe^® connections using optical signals are attracting attention as a technology that enables low-loss, stable transmission even between physically distant devices and resources, while enhancing system design flexibility and contributing to improved efficiency and power savings across entire data centers.

To address these challenges, in addition to developing onboard-type optoelectronic modules, Kyocera has newly developed a pluggable module supporting PCIe^® 6.0.

■ Features of the Newly Developed Product

1. Contributing to Higher Capacity and Lower Power Consumption with Next-Generation Standard PCIe^® 6.0 Optical Interconnects

Using the OSFP-XD form factor, Kyocera has achieved high-capacity communication with PCIe^® 6.0 x16 (64 GT/s per lane). Additionally, optical transmission enables us to eliminate the retimers that are required in electrical wiring, significantly reducing power consumption between PCIe^® devices. This contributes to power savings across the entire data center, enabling both reduced environmental impact and lower running costs.

2. High Versatility through Pluggable Type Module

The pluggable format enhances system design flexibility, enabling integration into existing systems and future expansion.

3. Improved Design Flexibility Through Long-Distance Connections

Optical fiber transmission can extend the connection distance between PCIe^® devices to several hundred meters or more, compared to the conventional electrical wiring limit of under 10 meters. This enables flexible equipment placement within and between racks, with expectations for optimized cooling efficiency and significantly improved maintainability.

■ Future Development

In addition to onboard-type and OSFP-XD modules, Kyocera plans to develop modules supporting various other form factors for different applications, including Optical CDFP^*5, and will sequentially expand its lineup. This will contribute to large-scale computing well into the future.

Optical CDFP

■ Exhibition at OFC 2026

This achievement will be exhibited at "OFC 2026," one of the world's largest international exhibitions in the optical communications field, to be held in Los Angeles, California, USA, from Tuesday, March 17 to Thursday, March 19, 2026. OFC attracts attention from telecommunications carriers, data center operators, and research institutions worldwide as a platform where the latest advances and products in optical fiber communication technology are showcased. The newly developed OSFP-XD optical transceiver will be exhibited at the AuthenX booth.

■ Strategic Partnership with AuthenX

AuthenX is a Taiwanese startup company with strengths in the design and development of high-speed optical transceivers utilizing silicon photonics technology. Kyocera has been advancing joint development of optical interconnect technology for next-generation data centers with AuthenX, and made an investment through KVIF-I in December 2025, to accelerate collaboration with the company.

This newly developed product was realized by combining AuthenX's module design technology with Kyocera's PCIe^® protocol processing, signal quality management, and link training technologies cultivated over many years. Both companies will continue to work closely together and accelerate efforts toward commercialization and market launch of this technology.

About AuthenX

*1 OSFP-XD: One of the form factors for pluggable optical modules, designed for next-generation high-density, multi-lane applications.
*2 PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express): An interface standard for high-speed connection among devices such as CPUs, GPUs, AI accelerators, and storage.
*3 KVIF-I: A corporate venture capital fund jointly established in April 2024 by Kyocera and Global Brain Corporation to strengthen Kyocera's framework for continuously creating new businesses.(https://global.kyocera.com/newsroom/news/2024/000950.html)
*4 Retimer: A chip used to correct signals degraded by loss and noise.
*5 Optical CDFP: One of the form factors for pluggable optical modules, mainly used in the 400G generation.

*This development is based on results obtained from a project, JPNP21029, subsidized by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

*PCIe is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG.

*OPTINITY is a trademark of Kyocera Corporation in Japan and other countries.