17 Mar 2026
16:00 - 17:00
Expo Theater I
This updated panel from last year’s OFC50 hit discussion on “Lighting the Path to Exascale AI” will delve into the optical technologies and market dynamics essential for next-generation AI data center infrastructure. The race to exascale AI and beyond drives a fundamental shift in how AI factory building blocks are designed and operated, with photonics as a critical enabler. The future of optical communication must address some of the most pressing hurdles and bottlenecks, moving beyond traditional electronic interconnects.
The Open Compute Project proudly brings together a panel of leading experts to discuss the practical realities and future direction of revolutionizing data movement—from photonic integrated circuits (PICs), to scale-up AI pods to scale-out AI factories. We will examine the most recent breakthroughs in silicon photonics, the rise of linear and co-packaged optics (CPO), and emphasizing the technical and market impact on solving complex data transfer challenges in AI training and inference. The discussion will also highlight the increasing importance of these technologies in enabling next-generation AI accelerators and memory hierarchies.
Presented By:
Moderator
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Vladimir Kozlov
CEO, LightCounting LLC, United States
Panelist
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Andy Bechtolsheim
Arista Networks, Germany
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Kannan Raj
Technical Architect for AI Infrastructure, Oracle, United States
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Karen Liu
Senior Advisor, PLM, Ciena, United States
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Thomas Liljeberg
Vice President, Integrated Photonics Solutions, Intel, United States