Joint EU UK Summer School on Optical Interconnect for AI, Hyperscale, Space and Quantum 2025

The increasing data volume demand for modern data centres, driven by the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data-intensive applications, poses novel challenges for traditional static network architectures. This is because, even though processing capacity has increased exponentially over the years, data centre network components are wired together such that the capacity of the network is optimised for worst-case scenarios. However, such static architectures are suboptimal for network configurations that need to manage time-deterministic and time-sensitive loads when exchanging data between network components, e.g. during training large AI models and managing dynamic mobile device demand.

One promising technology that can address such challenges relies on photonic integrated circuits (PICs), where integrated photonic components are used to establish dynamic network connections, depending on the actual load in the network. The 2025 Joint EU UK Summer School on Optical Interconnect for AI, Hyperscale, Space and Quantum (St Andrews Scotland, July 2025) was an inspiring event that facilitated knowledge exchange to prototype and commercialise such novel network architectures.

The summer school also fostered collaboration between various complementary and synergistic EU and UK projects in the field of optical and photonic communication network ecosystems. Four HaDEA funded projects (ADOPTION, DYNAMOS, OCTAPUS and PUNCH) participated in the event and gave tutorials highlighting the latest advancements in photonic integrated circuit technologies for scalable, low-power interconnects in AI clusters and cloud data centres. The summer school gave participants the opportunity to learn more about the state of the art, research and implementation challenges of critical topics, including how to design photonic integrated circuits, integrate fast tuneable lasers and laser combs, prototype silicon-organic hybrid modulators, implement photonics packaging methods or design high-speed silicon photonic transceivers.  

The projects:

ADOPTION develops novel photonic components for hyperscale intra-data centres to reduce power consumption and network latency. A key objective is to enable more efficient data exchange between network nodes in demanding applications such as AI training and digital twins. The project explores the use of co-packaged optics, where tiny optical components that send and receive high-speed data using light are placed directly beside processing chips. This approach improves speed and energy efficiency compared to traditional electrical links. ADOPTION also aims to build a European ecosystem covering chip fabrication, advanced assembly, system integration, and deployment in cloud data centres.

DYNAMOS develops a novel, dynamically reconfigurable data centre network, based on energy-efficient photonic integrated circuits. The objective is to come up with a fast, modular, and highly scalable opto-electronic network configuration, which can address existing bottlenecks in data centres and high-performance computing systems. Such novel network architecture will boost the overall performance of distributed machine learning tasks by significantly reducing the time required to exchange large volumes of data between computer clusters.

OCTAPUS develops a novel low-cost and energy-efficient photonic integrated circuit technology framework for telecommunication networks, where service components are decentralised and are closer to the end-user, i.e. at the edge of the network. Such a novel technology framework can revolutionise 5G, Industry 4.0 and IoT applications by establishing low-energy and high-capacity software-defined network components that can be dynamically reconfigured according to the actual demand. 

PUNCH project is developing a new paradigm for optical switching that addresses several industrial requirements, including reliable and low-latency communication with guaranteed service quality, less network congestion (and data loss or delay), lower power consumption and reduced cost of transmission interfaces. To do so, PUNCH will develop novel photonic components and corresponding interface electronics, establish scalable integration and photonics packaging processes, and manufacture different prototypes, which will be demonstrated and validated in industrial 5G and data centre testbeds.

Moreover, EU funded project ALLEGRO, managed by DG Connect, also participated in the summer school. The objective of the project is to design novel, ultra-high capacity and energy efficient end-to-end optical networks for the future. 

Background

Complementing the European Chips Act, Horizon Europe’s Cluster 4 Digital program focuses on strengthening European chip manufacturing value chains and hardware components for cloud/edge, low-latency and high-bandwidth data transmission network infrastructures.

Cloud computing is one of the core components for shaping Europe’s digital future, which will contribute to establishing the next generation cloud-edge infrastructures, especially focusing on performance, resilience and energy efficiency.
Horizon Europe is the research and innovation programme of the EU for the period 2021-2027.