CPO FAU Coupling Becomes a Manufacturing Bottleneck as Equipment Vendors Compete
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Precision alignment and fixation of the FAU (fiber array unit)—FAU coupling—has become a key bottleneck in CPO manufacturing and testing. At SEMICON Taiwan 2026, TSMC unveiled its COUPE upgrade roadmap: single-device bandwidth reaching 3.2 Tbps in 2026, doubling to 6.4 Tbps in 2027, with a long-term target exceeding 51.2 Tbps. TSMC noted that integrating optics on the substrate can deliver a 4x energy-efficiency gain, while OOI (optical I/O) can push that to 10x. As CPO bandwidth and integration requirements keep rising, the precision and process difficulty of FAU coupling also continue to climb, making it a key area of the supply chain competing for breakthroughs, with equipment vendors locked in fierce competition around this bottleneck.
AI overview of reporting · Updated 11 days ago
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- TrendForce Insights Semiconductor Industry InsightsPassive Part, Active Battle: Inside CPO's FAU Coupling Bottleneck
Precisely aligning and fixing fiber array units—FAU coupling—has become a critical bottleneck in CPO manufacturing and testing. At SEMICON Taiwan 2026, TSMC unveiled an upgraded COUPE roadmap: per-chip bandwidth reaching 3.2 Tbps in 2026, doubling to 6.4 Tbps in 2027, with a long-term target exceeding 51.2 Tbps. Integrating optics on the substrate can deliver a 4X power-efficiency gain, with OOI reaching 10X.