Credo unveils Bluebird 1.6T optical DSP chip, engineered for low-power, high-bandwidth and ultra-low-latency AI networks

Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd (Nasdaq: CRDO) has formally launched its high-performance, low-power Bluebird digital signal processor (DSP) for 1.6 Tbps optical modules. This breakthrough technology enables highly energy-efficient single-channel 224 Gbps PAM4 data transmission, providing critical support for unlocking the formidable computational power of the industry's most advanced GPU chips.

Next-generation AI networks impose increasingly stringent and extreme demands on network bandwidth, latency, reliability, and energy efficiency. Many existing 1.6T optical modules suffer from excessive power consumption, posing cooling and power supply challenges during deployment that hinder the widespread adoption of 1.6T technology. To address these challenges, Credo's Bluebird DSP employs advanced CMOS process technology combined with Credo's proprietary innovations to achieve industry-leading energy efficiency, enabling the overall power consumption of 1.6T optical modules to fall well below 20W.

Chris Collins, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Credo's optical products, stated: ‘The Bluebird 1.6T optical DSP has been meticulously engineered to deliver greater flexibility than existing solutions, supporting a broader range of application scenarios. This milestone breakthrough reaffirms our commitment to driving innovation within the optical communications industry – providing optical module partners with unparalleled performance and energy efficiency while continuously creating long-term value.’

Bluebird supports both 4-channel and 8-channel 224 Gbps PAM4 configurations, enabling high-density 800G transmission while also accommodating larger-capacity 1.6T optical modules. Furthermore, Bluebird offers both full-function DSP and linear receiver optical module (LRO) versions, comprehensively addressing diverse network architecture requirements including scale-up and scale-out deployments.

To overcome inter-GPU communication bottlenecks, Bluebird's architecture has been meticulously optimised, controlling round-trip and one-way latency to under 40 ns. This ultra-low latency significantly enhances computational efficiency and performance during large language model (LLM) training and inference. Bluebird also incorporates comprehensive telemetry capabilities, enabling real-time link monitoring and diagnostics to maximise system uptime and reliability. These capabilities also facilitate fault isolation, debugging, and mass production testing.

To streamline optical module system integration, optical component selection, and interoperability testing with host ASICs, both the electrical and optical interfaces of the Bluebird DSP feature a comprehensive suite of deeply customised performance optimisation functions. These can be flexibly enabled or disabled according to operational conditions. For instance: performance optimisation can be activated in harsh environments to enhance link margin; while deactivation in high-density clusters reduces power consumption. Optional IEEE-compliant internal/external forward error correction (FEC) supports fibre transmission over 500 m, 2 km, and longer distances, enabling customers to adapt a single design flexibly across diverse application scenarios.