Specifications
Portfolio
Ara X, Ara T, Petra, Aquila M DSPs
Ara DSP Class
Industry-first 3nm 1.6T PAM4 optical DSP
Lane Rate
200 Gbps electrical and optical interfaces
Ara X
1.6T fully-retimed PAM4 DSP (8 x 200G)
Ara T
First 8 x 200G transmit-retimed optics (TRO) PAM4 DSP
TRO Benefit
Significant power savings vs fully-retimed optics (FRO)
Process Node
3nm (2nm generation in development)
800G DSP
2nm Libra PAM4 DSP (earlier 2026)
Coherent
800G/1.6T ZR/ZR+ coherent and O-band coherent-lite
Electrical Interface
224G SerDes class
Availability
Ara X, Ara T, Petra, Aquila M sampling from Q1 2026
Photonic Fabric
Multi-rack optical scale-up up to 102.4T CPO platform
Ecosystem
DSPs, drivers, TIAs, DCI modules and switches
Applications
AI scale-out optical interconnect, data center networks
Overview
Marvell's 1.6T optical DSP platform is the connectivity silicon behind the industry's 800G-to-1.6T transition for AI data centers. The portfolio spans the 3nm Ara X (first 1.6T PAM4 optical DSP with 200 Gbps electrical and optical interfaces), the Ara T (first 8 x 200G transmit-retimed optics DSP, or TRO), plus the Petra and Aquila M DSPs.
Transmit-retimed optics (TRO) retime only the transmit path, cutting power versus fully-retimed optics (FRO) while retaining signal integrity for AI scale-out links. Marvell pairs these DSPs with 224G SerDes, drivers, TIAs, DCI modules and Photonic Fabric optical memory, and has demonstrated first 2nm optical PAM4 (400G/lane), 800G ZR/ZR+ and 1.6T coherent-lite technologies at ECOC 2026. The Ara X, Ara T, Petra and Aquila M DSPs began sampling to customers in Q1 2026.
Key Benefits
Industry first: 3nm 1.6T PAM4 DSP and first 8x200G TRO DSP. Power savings: transmit-retimed optics reduce module power vs FRO. End-to-end: SerDes, DSP, drivers/TIAs and Photonic Fabric from one vendor.
Applications
AI data center scale-out optical interconnect, 1.6T Ethernet and InfiniBand fabrics, transmit-retimed and fully-retimed pluggable optics, co-packaged optics.
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