COPENHAGEN, Denmark--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 29, 2025--
Avicena, the leader in next-generation microLED interconnects, today announced a major milestone at ECOC 2025 with a live demonstration of a fully operational microLED-based optical link operating at an industry-leading Tx power of 200 femtojoules per bit (fJ/bit) at <1E-12 raw bit error rate (i.e. no forward error correction). This achievement highlights the efficiency of Avicena’s scalable LightBundle™ platform for high-performance computing and AI data centers.
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Using a high-sensitivity receiver, modified from a high-volume foundry camera sensor process, the demonstration link operates at dramatically reduced microLED drive currents. Since LEDs do not require the threshold current typical of lasers, they run fast even at low currents. In this live demonstration, the LED operates at about 0.25mA drive current and 4Gb/s and is paired with a hybrid-bonded camera sensor and discrete TIA.
Scalable LightBundle Chiplet Platform for CPO Interconnects
Instead of serializing low-speed on-chip data (typically around 2 Gb/s per lane) to very high-speed optical lanes, LightBundle transmits raw parallel data directly, dramatically simplifying the architecture. This approach enables massive arrays of microLEDs to deliver unprecedented aggregate bandwidth at very low latency, low power consumption, and ease of integration with any silicon node. LightBundle chiplet transceivers are well-suited to various packaging architectures including co-packaged optics (CPO), on-board optics (OBO), pluggable optical modules, and wide memory interconnects.
“By leveraging a highly sensitive receiver, a minor modification to a high-volume camera process, and the unique properties of microLEDs, we can achieve unmatched energy efficiency in our LightBundle interconnects,” said Bardia Pezeshki, CTO of Avicena. “This breakthrough shows how microLED technology can replace legacy laser-based links with a simpler, more scalable, and far lower power solution.”
“The implications of this innovation extend beyond GPU-to-GPU connectivity,” said Marco Chisari, CEO of Avicena. “HBM memory interfaces are one of the next great frontiers for optical interconnects and ideally require wide buses with minimal latency. LightBundle’s ability to directly transmit low-speed parallel data at very low power and low latency, makes it ideally suited to breaking traditional memory bandwidth bottlenecks, and opening the door to new system architectures for next-generation AI and HPC platforms.”
This demonstration builds on Avicena’s ongoing work with hyperscale data center partners to enable scale-up GPU clusters spanning multiple racks and thousands of GPUs, and low power memory interfaces, to dramatically scale AI clusters and lower their power consumption.
Avicena at ECOC 2025:
In addition to showcasing its LightBundle interconnect technology at Booth C3517, Avicena will participate in the following events:
Simon Richmond, VP of Operations, will be presenting at the Market Focus Session on Modules & Subsystems:
MicroLED-based Optical Interconnects for AI Data Centers: Advancing Scale-Up Networks Beyond Copper Interconnects.
Monday, September 29, 2025: 15:20 – 15:35
About Avicena
Avicena Tech Corp. is a privately held company located in Sunnyvale, CA, developing LightBundle, a next generation optical interconnect architecture for AI/ML, HPC, sensors, 5G wireless and aerospace applications. This unique, flexible ultra-low energy technology is based on microLEDs, offering both very high bandwidth and low latency. Now, system designers can disaggregate functions like compute and memory and radically grow system throughput. Avicena’s technology is a key building block in the evolution of networking and computing that will reduce the energy impact on our planet.
For more information, visit https://avicena.tech
Scalable LightBundle Chiplet Platform for CPO Interconnects
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo says he’s healthy and wants to play even as the Milwaukee Bucks continue to say the two-time MVP is too injured to take the floor.
Antetokounmpo missed a 10th straight game on Friday night against the Boston Celtics due to what the team has described as a left knee hyperextension and bone bruise. Antetokounmpo hasn’t played since landing awkwardly during a March 15 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
“I’m healthy,” Antetokounmpo told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and The Athletic before Friday’s game. “I hate it when people force me to do things against my nature. I’m a player. I get paid to play.”
For the last couple of weeks, Antetokounmpo has participated in pregame warmups without showing any apparent signs of injury.
Antetokounmpo also noted that the Bucks should have known this about him since the 31-year-old has spent his entire 13-year career in Milwaukee.
Throughout that time, Antetokounmpo has had a reputation for rapid returns from injury, most notably when he hyperextended his knee during Milwaukee’s 2021 playoff run but missed two games before returning to lead the Bucks to their first title in half a century.
“You know who you’re dealing with,” Antetokounmpo told reporters. “So, for somebody to come and tell me to not play or to not compete, it’s like a slap in my face.”
Bucks coach Doc Rivers addressed Antetokounmpo's comments after the 133-101 loss to Boston.
“The tough part about all this is that I’m in the middle and I have nothing to do with it,” Rivers said. “Coaches don’t decide any of this. The problem with our league is the coaches are the ones sitting out front. And we have to sit here and answer this stuff. I think there are two sides to this, I will tell you that, but I don’t want to get too involved in it.”
The Bucks still had a remote chance of earning a 10th straight playoff berth at the time of that Indiana game, but they were officially eliminated from contention last week. There’s also the possibility of Antetokounmpo getting hurt again if he returns to action — he has missed a career-high 41 games this season and had two extended absences due to calf strains.
“I understand the circumstances — yes, we’re not going to be in the playoffs,” Antetokounmpo said. “For some people’s eyes, it’s not worth it for me to be out there. But for me, it’s something that goes against my nature.”
Rivers said he has a “great relationship” with Antetokounmpo and that he often talks to the superstar about what to work on and what to add to his game. Rivers added that he didn't like the “he-said, she-said” nature of this dispute and added that “this is a grown man's game, and it should be handled that way by everybody.”
“I just don’t like that this is so public," Rivers said. "This is where grown men get in a room and they talk it out. Whether they agree or disagree, that doesn’t matter. But this should not be public, and I don’t like that.”
Antetokounmpo also wanted the opportunity to play alongside his younger brother, Alex, who made his NBA debut Tuesday. There was a possibility of three Antetokounmpo brothers playing alongside each other in the same game, since Giannis’ older brother, Thanasis, also is on the Bucks.
“When my dad passed away, I pretty much raised (Alex),” Antetokounmpo said. “He’s able to be on the team and suit up and chase an opportunity to be great. You really think I don’t want to suit up and play with my brother? Anybody who thinks that is an idiot.”
Thanasis and Alex both played in the closing minutes Friday night, the first time the two brothers had played together in an NBA game.
Antetokounmpo’s desire to play — and the Bucks’ wishes to rest him — drew the attention of the National Basketball Players Association last month.
“The Player Participation Policy was designed by the league to hold teams accountable and ensure that when an All-Star like Giannis Antetokounmpo is healthy and ready to play, he is on the court,” the union said in a statement. “Unfortunately, anti-tanking policies are only as effective as their enforcement; fans, broadcast partners, and the integrity of the game itself will continue to suffer as long as ownership goes unchecked. We look forward to collaborating with the NBA on meaningful new proposals that will directly address and discourage tanking.”
This dispute between Antetokounmpo and the Bucks comes at a time when his future in Milwaukee is uncertain. Antetokounmpo’s name dominated league-wide discussions leading up to the trade deadline, though the Bucks ultimately kept him.
Antetokounmpo becomes eligible to sign a four-year contract extension worth up to $275 million in October. If he doesn’t sign the extension, Antetokounmpo could become a free agent after the 2026-27 season, or the Bucks could decide to trade him beforehand.
Now they find themselves at odds over how to handle the rest of this season.
“I don't think there's a bad person in this group - none of the guys that I'm talking about,” Rivers said. “They're all good people. But we've got to figure out how to put good people on the same page, and it stays inside. I've never been a fan of negotiating in the media. I don't think it's good for anybody.”
Antetokounmpo had his own take on how this could be resolved.
“I don’t know where the relationship goes from there,” Antetokounmpo said. “We’ve got to go to couples therapy.”
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Injured Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo, center right, talks with an official, center left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)
