Why AI Needs Optics: The Optical Interconnect Stack Explained, With POET As The Worked Example

Artificial intelligence is not only a story about bigger models and faster accelerators. Underneath every AI cluster sits a less visible but increasingly strategic problem: how to move enormous volumes of data between chips, boards, racks and systems without drowning in power, heat and cost. That problem is being solved with light. This guide explains the optical interconnect stack layer by layer — switch silicon, lasers, modulators, optical engines and transceiver modules — and uses POET Technologies (Nasdaq: $POET) as a concrete, well-marked example of one specific layer, so you can tell which company plays where and which news actually matters for which player.