AMD is scheduled to hold its Advancing AI event in San Francisco on July 22 and 23, where it is expected to disclose more details about the MI500 GPU series and its scale-up co-packaged optics, or CPO, roadmap.
Responding to community questions, Serenity said a clear commitment by AMD to adopt a CPO solution, along with disclosure of the optical engine supplier, would be positive for the broader CPO theme. That would mean the shift toward optical interconnects is no longer being pushed by Nvidia alone.
For now, Jefferies analyst Blayne Curtis expects AMD to partner with Astera Labs on UAL and with Broadcom on ESUN. The bigger question, though, is whether AMD will formally move to a CPO-based scale-up approach and which company will supply the optical engine.
Serenity said a clearer read on the supply chain will likely only come after Wednesday or Thursday, once the event has taken place, and added that it is still too early to draw firm conclusions.
Sivers remains an indirect supply-chain angle
As for Sivers, Serenity said its link to the AMD supply chain can only be inferred through indirect paths at this stage.
- First, GlobalFoundries is said to be involved in AMD’s MI500 CPO work, and Sivers serves as its reference laser supplier.
- Second, AMD has previously invested in Ayar Labs.
According to Serenity, if AMD reveals at the event that it is using Ayar Labs or GlobalFoundries SCALE as the MI500 CPO optical engine solution, that would be a major positive for Sivers. In both cases, Sivers would sit in a core upstream position as a laser and reference laser supplier.
What the market is watching in MI500
Current expectations are that MI500 will shift to a native UAL scale-up architecture, with each rack supporting 256 GPUs connected through optical interconnects.
Serenity also noted that Sivers has spent this year securing positions across several technical routes, including CPO, pluggable optical modules, and silicon photonics. If AMD confirms at the event that Sivers has indirectly entered the supply chain, that would add support to the company’s broader full-stack optical interconnect positioning.