Nvidia and SK Hynix CPO strategies diverge as 3D optics look toward a post-2030 horizon

SK Hynix’s recent publication in *Nature Electronics* on Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) marks a pivotal move in high-performance computing and AI infrastructure. This advancement will reshape the optical interconnect supply chain, accelerating upstream developments in lasers, optical materials, and packaging technologies. Nvidia, as a dominant player, now faces divergent strategic paths, with its CPO roadmap potentially diverging from SK Hynix’s. As geopolitical tensions tighten, especially with U.S. export controls, SK Hynix’s localization strategy could intensify global supply chain fragmentation. In response, Nvidia may accelerate in-house optical module development to maintain ecosystem dominance, while competitors like AMD may leverage CPO to gain edge in next-gen AI servers. Over the next 12–24 months, CPO is poised to become a critical bottleneck in AI compute, driving renewed capital inflows into data center and edge computing sectors.