Semtech CopperEdge & FiberEdge 1.6T — 224G Linear Equalizers & Optical ICs

Specifications

Overview

Semtech's CopperEdge portfolio brings linear (retimerless) equalization to 800G and 1.6T copper links, cutting the power and latency that DSP-based active electrical cables (AECs) impose on AI clusters. The GN8214 is a 4-channel 112G/channel PAM4 linear equalizer for 800G ACC and on-board applications, while the GN8224 and GN8234 are 4-channel 224G/channel PAM4 cable equalizers for 1.6T ACC.

CopperEdge delivers under 2 W per cable end roughly 90% lower than DSP-based AECs and sub-100ps latency, better than 100x versus higher-latency DSP retimers. Copper reach extends to 5 m at 800G and 3 m at 1.6T, with enhanced PCB trace length for both 112G and 224G per-channel designs.

Semtech's FiberEdge line provides the complementary optical signal-integrity ICs (drivers and TIAs) for 1.6T and 800G datacom transceivers, and the Tri-Edge PAM4 CDR+TIA (GN2559) serves re-timed 200G/400G interfaces together, they cover the electrical-to-optical boundary of AI scale-out networks.

Key Benefits

Retimerless linear equalization slashes AI cluster interconnect power and latency; <2 W per cable end and sub-100ps latency; native compatibility with existing 100G/200G-per-channel infrastructure; FiberEdge optical ICs complete the electrical-to-optical chain for 1.6T modules.

Applications

800G and 1.6T active copper cables (ACC), dense AI/ML compute clusters, GPU scale-out fabrics, 200G/400G re-timed transceiver interfaces, and on-board signal conditioning in AI switches and NICs.

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