The Great Optics-Copper Crossroads

This week, Austin and Vik break down the optics vs. copper debate that rocked semis this week. Nvidia dropped $4 billion on Lumentum and Coherent, Credo posted a blowout quarter betting on copper, and then Hock Tan shocked everyone claiming 400G per lane works over copper in Broadcom’s labs — potentially pushing CPO out to 2030+. Plus, Vik’s 4D chess conspiracy theory on why Hock Tan is talking up copper when Broadcom is a CPO company.

Like, subscribe, and drop your thoughts on the copper vs. optics debate in the comments!

Subscribe to our newsletters:
* Chipstrat by Austin Lyons — chipstrat.com
* Vik’s Semiconductor Newsletter by Vik Sekar — viksnewsletter.com
Chapters
(00:00 (youtube.com/watch?v=47cQTPjDUB8)) - Newsletter Plugs: Groq LPUs & Broadcom’s Laser Business
(03:15 (youtube.com/watch?v=47cQTPjDUB8&t=195s)) - Dynamo & the Rise of Workload-Specific Hardware
(08:04 (youtube.com/watch?v=47cQTPjDUB8&t=484s)) - Austin’s Broadcom Laser Deep Dive
(09:53 (youtube.com/watch?v=47cQTPjDUB8&t=593s)) - The Week’s Whiplash: Optics Monday, Copper Wednesday
(17:50 (youtube.com/watch?v=47cQTPjDUB8&t=1070s)) - Why Nvidia Invested $4B: Geopolitics, Supply & the HBM Playbook
(24:15 (youtube.com/watch?v=47cQTPjDUB8&t=1455s)) - CPO Lasers & Optical Circuit Switches
(26:16 (youtube.com/watch?v=47cQTPjDUB8&t=1576s)) - Credo Earnings: 200% YoY Growth & the Copper Bull Case
(31:09 (youtube.com/watch?v=47cQTPjDUB8&t=1869s)) - Reliability, AECs & Oracle’s GPU Cluster Problem
(35:48 (youtube.com/watch?v=47cQTPjDUB8&t=2148s)) - Credo’s Optics Play: Micro-LED Active Cables & the CPO Timing Risk
(38:45 (youtube.com/watch?v=47cQTPjDUB8&t=2325s)) - Broadcom Earnings: Hock Tan’s Copper Bombshell
(43:34 (youtube.com/watch?v=47cQTPjDUB8&t=2614s)) - Customer-Owned Tooling: Hock Tan Says “Good Luck”
(44:25 (youtube.com/watch?v=47cQTPjDUB8&t=2665s)) - Vik’s 4D Chess Theory: Why Hock Tan Talks Up Copper
(47:03 (youtube.com/watch?v=47cQTPjDUB8&t=2823s)) - Wrap-Up: It’s Both — The Real Question Is Timing