After two years of debate and development, Linear Pluggable Optics (LPO) has crossed the commercial threshold in 2025, with several manufacturers announcing volume shipments of 800G LPO modules.
The LPO market evolution:
• Early 2024: LPO was a controversial concept with limited silicon validation. Interoperability was the primary concern.
• Late 2024: Switch vendors including Broadcom and Marvell announced support for linear-mode operation in their ASICs, addressing the host-side interoperability challenge.
• Q1 2025: Multiple Chinese optical module manufacturers, including Huagong Tech (华工科技), announced 800G LPO modules in overseas production, targeting AI data center deployments.
• Key specs: 800G LPO modules typically consume 12–15W (compared to 18–22W for DSP-based equivalents) and are priced 20–30% lower, making them attractive for short-reach AI fabric applications.
Challenges that remain:
• Reach limitation: LPO is currently viable only for SR8 (100m) and DR4 (500m) specifications; LR4 (2km+) still requires DSP-based solutions.
• Qualification burden: Each switch-module combination requires separate interoperability testing, increasing the time and cost of deployment.
SZVAN is evaluating LPO technology for our 800G product line, with initial development focusing on SR8 and DR4 specifications where LPO's advantages are most pronounced.
