Innovations in Co-Packaged Interconnects for 224 Gbps PAM4 and Beyond

AI was the catalyst for many products and technologies demonstrated in exhibitor booths and discussed in technical reviews, tutorials, and presentations at DesignCon 2026.

Samtec presented several live product demonstrations showcasing our 224 Gbps PAM4 interconnect solutions. These demonstrations incorporated our Si-Fly^® HD cable solutions.

Si-Fly HD CPX brings optics and copper together as a surface mount, co-packaged, substrate-based socket. NPC/NPO options are also available. These high-density CPX options are integrated directly beside the silicon SerDes. This proximity eliminates long PCB traces and greatly reduces loss (CPX offers a ~5db improvement vs NPC/NPO) while preserving serviceability in a pluggable form factor.

Si-Fly HD co-packaged interconnects provide the highest density 224 Gbps PAM4 solution in today’s market. Electrically pluggable co-packaged copper (CPC) and co-packaged optics solutions (CPO), are achievable on a 95 mm x 95 mm or smaller substrate using Samtec’s SFCM connector.

In the video above, John Riley reviews three co-packaged copper and optical systems. 

Our first example is with our friends at Broadcom. They provided a 200G SerDes chip, which is connected to our co-packaged copper cable. It goes to the front panel via a Flyover^® OSFP, then through a passive DAC, and loops back through the co-packaged copper. 

We see fantastic performance — bit error rates of e-11/e-12 and low loss.

Our second example is with our friends from Marvell. This example shows 16, 64 differential pair sockets surrounding the chip. This can be used with both copper or optics. The total output is 1,024 I/Os off-the-chip. 

Our final example is an interoperability ecosystem of our co-packaged copper and optical solutions. Whether you’re going to the front panel or the backplane, with copper or optics, there are industry partners that can help with solutions along the way. These systems all launch from our Si-Fly-HD co-packaged solutions. 

Also at DesignCon, Samtec developed a prototype cable system representing a chip-to-chip, intra-tray GPU-to-GPU interconnect at 448 Gbps. A live demonstration of this system was showcased in the Samtec booth.

Here are a few other blogs about co-packaged interconnects that might be of interest to you:

• Evolution of Co-Packaged Interconnects
• 200G Co-Packaged SerDes With Broadcom SerDes and Samtec Si-Fly-HD CPC
• Marvell and Samtec Offer Joint Solution for Next-Gen 100T Network Switching Topology
• 224G Test Platform Provides Scalability, Cost Benefits, Pathway to 448G
• Samtec Inks Second Source Agreement with Molex on 224 Gbps Si-Fly-HD