Foxconn rumored to start mass production of CPO optical modules this year

Renowned analyst Jukan on social platform X stated that Foxconn plans to initiate mass shipment of co-packaged optical (CPO) switch trays in 2026 and expects shipments to more than double in 2027. This is the latest signal that the demand for AI computing power is driving the acceleration of data transmission technology iteration.

As a core supplier of Nvidia, Foxconn's Chairman and CEO, Terry Gou, said at the annual shareholders' meeting held this week that the company will start delivering CPO switch trays later this year, with about 10,000 units expected to be shipped within the year. Gou further pointed out that "the demand for CPO is very strong," and shipments in 2027 will "grow several times" based on this.

CPO is a kind of packaging technology that highly integrates optical transceivers with switching chips. Compared to traditional pluggable optical modules, it can significantly reduce power consumption and enhance data transmission efficiency, making it one of the key interconnection solutions for current hyperscale data centers.

The speed of data transmission has become a core infrastructure variable in the global AI competition. As the scale of AI training clusters continues to expand, the bandwidth bottleneck between GPUs becomes more prominent, leading to an increased demand for optical technologies such as fiber, transceivers, lasers, and substrates.

The commercialization of CPO technology is a key link in the aforementioned demand chain. The mass production timeline of Foxconn indicates that the technology has officially entered the large-scale deployment cycle from the engineering verification stage.

For investors who focus on the AI industry chain, core segments of the CPO supply chain, including photonic chips, laser light sources, and packaging substrates, are worth continuing to track.