Nvidia Temporarily Drops TSMC’s COUPE for Tower’s Silicon Photonics Platform

As demand for artificial intelligence computing surges, conventional electrical signal transmission is running into bottlenecks. Silicon photonics and co-packaged optics (CPO) have become critical technologies for chip giants such as Nvidia to improve transmission efficiency and reduce power consumption. TSMC’s COUPE solution had been seen as a leading technology for next-generation AI optical packaging, with significant implications for the evolution of the broader AI supply chain and data-transmission architecture.

In July 2026, Nvidia was reported to have temporarily abandoned COUPE after delays in TSMC’s silicon photonics PDK development and the failure of its grating couplers to meet specifications. Nvidia shifted the project to Tower Semiconductor’s silicon photonics platform and adopted a near-packaged optics architecture. The move highlights the intense competition TSMC faces in AI optical packaging and is also expected to delay the design and testing schedule for Nvidia’s downstream AI chips by several months.