MediaTek and Microsoft Develop Breakthrough Active Optical Cable Technology

New MicroLED-powered design aims to significantly improve data center efficiency and reliability.

Mar. 17, 2026 at 11:44pm

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A collaborative team of researchers from MediaTek, Microsoft Research, and other suppliers have successfully designed a next-generation Active Optical Cable (AOC) powered by miniaturized MicroLED light sources. This revolutionary Active MicroLED Cable design can significantly improve power efficiency in data centers compared to current technologies, while also delivering high reliability like copper but at a much farther reach.

Why it matters

Today's data center networks face a tradeoff between reach, power, and reliability. The new Active MicroLED Cable design helps solve this by replacing traditional 'Narrow-and-Fast' laser channels with hundreds of parallel, low-speed MicroLED channels, enabling major improvements in power savings, reliability, and transmission reach.

The details

The joint design of the Active MicroLED Cable can scale to 800 Gbps and beyond within standard QSFP/OSFP form factors. Key breakthroughs include up to 50% lower power than conventional VCSEL-based AOCs, copper-level reliability thanks to MicroLEDs' simple structure and high endurance, and extended reach ideal for massive cross-rack connections in AI training clusters. The design also features monolithic CMOS integration and heterogeneous integration of the MicroLED and photodetector arrays.

  • The joint project for the Active MicroLED Cable was completed in March 2026.

The players

MediaTek

A global leader in fabless semiconductor design, providing solutions from the edge to the cloud and powering over 2 billion connected devices every year.

Microsoft Research

The research division of Microsoft that collaborated with MediaTek on the Active MicroLED Cable design, leveraging its MOSAIC technology.

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What they’re saying

“This collaboration leverages both companies' deep technology expertise and industry leadership and understanding of data center design to solve critical industry limitations and bottlenecks.”

— Vince Hu, Corporate Vice President, MediaTek

“The combination of Microsoft Research's breakthrough technology with the engineering excellence of MediaTek and our other partners has opened the door to a major leap in AI datacenter efficiency.”

— Doug Burger, Technical Fellow and Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Research

What’s next

The two parties continue to explore opportunities in miniaturization and mass production readiness to advance the future development of gigawatt-scale AI data centers.

The takeaway

This new Active MicroLED Cable design represents a significant breakthrough in data center technology, solving critical tradeoffs around power, reliability, and reach, and paving the way for more efficient and scalable AI infrastructure.