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Developing Next-Generation Integrated Optical Engines With InfiniLink

10월 06, 2025

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Susan Coleman | Senior Director Academic and Startup Programs, Ansys, part of Synopsys
Emily Gerken | Corporate Communications Specialist, Ansys, part of Synopsys
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Data demand is soaring worldwide as high-resolution video streaming, virtual reality, the Internet of Things (IoT), high-performance computing (HPC), and artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) drive an insatiable appetite for data. As a result, networks and data centers face increasing pressure to expand bandwidth, reduce latency, and lower power consumption globally.

InfiniLink, an innovative semiconductor startup based in Cairo, is addressing these challenges by developing advanced optical data connectivity chips for AI-driven data centers. InfiniLink designs integrated optical transceiver chiplets (iOTCs), leveraging deep expertise in analog mixed-signal design and silicon photonics. As AI workloads and data-intensive applications escalate, traditional electrical and optical interconnects are hitting their limits in power efficiency and scalability. InfiniLink’s iOTC technology offers a breakthrough — enabling both low-power pluggable transceiver modules and high-bandwidth-density co-packaged optical (CPO) engines.

In optical interconnects for data centers, a serializer/deserializer (SerDes) is a high-speed electrical interface that converts parallel data into serial signals and vice versa. It operates at the host side, enabling high data rates over a small number of electrical lanes. The SerDes interfaces with optical engines, which perform the actual electrical-to-optical (E/O) and optical-to-electrical (O/E) conversion for transmission over fiber.

“Our mission is to enable data connectivity inside next-generation AI data centers — meeting market demands for ultra-high-speed, low-power integrated optical engines with state-of-the-art bandwidth density and energy efficiency,” says Botros George, chief technology officer and co-founder of InfiniLink.

InfiniLink is developing highly integrated optical transceiver chiplets that combine silicon photonics and analog mixed-signal components through advanced packaging technologies. Realizing these sophisticated optical engines relies heavily on multidisciplinary modeling and simulation for design optimization and system-level verification.

Finding the Right Tools for the Job

In 2022, with support from Fluid Codes, a Middle East-based Ansys Apex Channel Partner, InfiniLink joined the Ansys Startup Program, gaining access to industry-leading simulation tools at a cost-efficient scale and leveraging the power of Ansys optics, photonics, and electromagnetics software. Through the program, InfiniLink used products such as Ansys HFSS high-frequency electromagnetic simulation software, Ansys Lumerical FDTD advanced 3D electromagnetic simulation software, and Ansys Lumerical INTERCONNECT photonic integrated circuit design and simulation software.

These tools proved instrumental in designing a wide range of active and passive photonics components, enabling the team to build custom photonics process design kits (PDKs) to optimize, replace, or complement missing elements in standard foundry PDKs.

pluggable-optics
co-packaged-optics

InfiniLink's integrated optical transceiver chiplet (iOTC) in pluggable and co-packaged optics applications

Addressing Complex Multidisciplinary Design Problems

George and his team further explain that the Ansys, part of Synopsys, tool set has proven essential for modeling highly complex, multidisciplinary problems. An example of this is the modeling of high-power nonlinearity and self-heating in micro ring modulators (MRMs) and assessing the impact on complex modulation formats like PAM4. With such comprehensive models, novel solutions were devised.

micro-ring-modulators

Simplified modeling flow for high-power nonlinearity and self-heating effects in micro ring modulators (MRMs)

Another key use case involved the design optimization of Traveling Wave Mach-Zehnder modulators (TWMZMs), combining Lumerical software and HFSS software to capture the interaction between the electromagnetic performance of the modulator electrodes with the optical performance of the modulator output.

traveling-wave-mach-zehnder-modulators

Multiphysics modeling of Traveling Wave Mach-Zehnder modulators (TWMZMs)

Accelerating Design Cycles With HPC

Beyond complex multidisciplinary modeling, Ansys tools brought powerful HPC capabilities, including GPU-accelerated simulations. This computational edge enabled extensive design space exploration of different architectures and yield optimization of individual designs, drastically reducing simulation times by orders of magnitude while providing deeper insights both at the component and system levels.

Driving the Future of Optical Connectivity

“With such multidisciplinary simulation flows, coupled with accelerated computational capabilities of Ansys tools, our models led to a better understanding of the problems and enabled the development of novel, highly optimized solutions. It’s a game changer for our product development cycle,” says George.

As AI workloads and cloud infrastructure continue to grow, the demand for high-speed, low-power data connectivity solutions is only accelerating. Powered by Ansys simulation tools and Fluid Codes’ continued support, InfiniLink is pushing the frontier — engineering the next generation of integrated optical engines that will power tomorrow’s AI-driven data centers.

Learn more about the Ansys Startup Program.


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“With such multidisciplinary simulation flows, coupled with accelerated computational capabilities of Ansys tools, our models led to a better understanding of the problems and enabled the development of novel, highly optimized solutions. It’s a game changer for our product development cycle.”

— Botros George, chief technology officer and co-founder, InfiniLink


Susan Coleman
학술 및 스타트업 프로그램 수석 이사

Susan Coleman

우리 학술 및 스타트업 프로그램은 차세대 Ansys 고객이 시뮬레이션의 강력한 기능을 활용할 수 있도록 지원하는 것을 목표로 합니다. Susan은 시뮬레이션 사용의 진입 장벽을 낮추는 것을 목표로, Ansys의 비즈니스 부서 및 고객과 협력하여 이러한 프로그램을 강화합니다. Susan은 Ansys 현장 영업팀과 협력하여 고객의 요구 사항을 충족할 수 있도록 지원하고 역량을 강화하며, 각 사업부와 협력하여 해당 분야에서 고객에게 최고의 제품을 제공할 수 있도록 보장합니다. 또한 그녀의 팀은 마케팅과 긴밀히 협력하여 시뮬레이션이 학술 및 스타트업 생태계에 미치는 영향에 대한 정보를 전하는 데 도움을 줍니다.

기업 커뮤니케이션 전문가

Emily Gerken은 소프트웨어, 하드웨어 및 전기 엔지니어링 문서 및 요구 사항 관리 분야에서 10년 이상의 경력을 쌓은 기술 작가입니다. 그녀는 채텀 대학교에서 커뮤니케이션 학사 학위를 받았습니다. Ansys에 입사하기 전에는 BPMI(Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc.)에서 기술 출판물 전문가로 근무하면서 미 해군 핵 잠수함 및 항공모함에 대한 사용자 매뉴얼을 작업했습니다. 기업 커뮤니케이션 전문가로서 특히 고객 성공 사례와 파트너십 기능을 통해 Ansys 시뮬레이션의 하이테크 응용 프로그램을 공유하는 데 주력하고 있습니다.

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