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Why co-packaged optics save power: the DSP stage and long electrical path versus a die-adjacent optical engine Pluggable optics long PCB electrical trace + DSP retimer inside each module faceplate transceiver module laser light in DSP DSP retimer: burns power, adds latency loss grows long PCB electrical trace switch ASIC Co-packaged optics optical engine moves onto the switch package, adjacent to the ASIC external light source kept separate switch package switch ASIC die optical engine co-located with ASIC no DSP, µm-scale path fiber to fabric lower power per bit reduced switch heat load fewer parts that can fail light source kept separate