AMD to Announce MI500 GPU and CPO Roadmap at AI Event

Huo Xing Finance reports that on July 21, AMD will host the Advancing AI event in San Francisco on July 22–23, expected to reveal further details on the MI500 series GPUs and its scale-up CPO roadmap. Serenity, in response to community inquiries, noted that if AMD explicitly commits to a CPO solution and discloses its optical engine supplier during the event, it would be a significant positive for the entire CPO narrative—indicating that the transition to optical interconnects is no longer driven solely by NVIDIA. Currently, Jefferies analyst Blayne Curtis anticipates AMD will collaborate with Astera Labs on UAL and Broadcom on ESUN; however, the key focus lies in whether AMD officially adopts a CPO-based scale-up approach and who will supply the optical engines. Serenity believes a clearer view of the supply chain will only emerge after Wednesday or Thursday’s event, and it is still too early to draw conclusions. For Sivers, supply chain connections can currently only be inferred indirectly: first, GlobalFoundries is rumored to be involved in AMD’s MI500 CPO efforts, with Sivers serving as its reference laser supplier; second, AMD has previously invested in Ayar Labs. If AMD discloses during the event that it is using either Ayar Labs or GlobalFoundries’ SCALE as the optical engine solution for MI500, it would be a major positive for Sivers—given that Sivers occupies a central position in both pathways as an upstream laser and reference laser supplier. The MI500 is expected to transition to a native UAL scale-up architecture, supporting up to 256 GPUs per rack interconnected via optical links. Sivers has consistently positioned itself across multiple technology pathways this year—including CPO, pluggable optical modules, and silicon photonics. If AMD’s event confirms its indirect entry into the supply chain, it will further validate Sivers’ comprehensive strategy in optical interconnects.