Leading the Future of AI Networking

Author: Chris (Micas Networks); Johnson Stab, Product Manager, Super Micro; Andrew, CEO, Micas Networks Collection: 2025 OCP Global Summit - Expo Hall Sessions

Summary

This panel discussion between Micas Networks and Super Micro addresses liquid-cooled networking and co-packaged optics (CPO) as critical enablers for AI factory networking at gigawatt scale. The core thesis is that AI racks generating over 100 kW per rack make traditional pluggable optics and air cooling unsustainable for network fabric, and that CPO -- integrating optics directly into the switch ASIC -- eliminates thousands of pluggable modules, delivering power savings, reliability improvements, and scalability.

Three key benefits of CPO are presented: scalability (more connections per switch, enabling larger fat-tree non-blocking topologies without HVAC threshold violations), reliability (hyperscaler testing showed over 4 million hours across multiple CPO switches with zero port flapping, versus 5-8% failure rate from shipping vibration with pluggable transceivers), and power savings (while liquid cooling saves only approximately 5% power per server, at gigawatt scale this translates to 200,000 additional GPUs -- equivalent to the $1.95 billion Microsoft recently invested in renting 100,000 GPUs). CPO design separates the reliable optical engine (sitting beside the ASIC, similar to proven HBM packaging) from the laser source (moved to front panel, field-serviceable, with 50+ million units deployed by the laser vendor). Super Micro's DCBBS approach integrates Micas CPO switches with pre-validated, pre-tested rack-scale deployments, performing L11 QA testing at facility and L12 cluster-level testing on-site.