Silicon Line Announces New Line of Integrated Circuits for Active Optical Cables with Bandwidth up to 72 Gigabytes per Second

MUNICH and COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., April 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Coming off its strongest and most successful year to date, Silicon Line GmbH (www.silicon-line.com), has introduced a new line of integrated circuits (ICs) with transmission speeds of 16 to 18 gigabytes per seconds (Gb/s).

The new chips will be produced in single-channel and four-channel versions, enabling the production of active optical cables with speeds up 72 Gb/s. Likely applications for the ICs include active optical cables for HDMI- and DisplayPort-enabled devices, as well as customized cable solutions for virtual reality headsets, 4K and 8K TV and commercial products. Silicon Line is the global leader in developing and providing innovative optical link technology for consumer, commercial and industrial electronics.

Ruud van der Linden, CEO, also announced Silicon Line sales had doubled for the second consecutive year in 2018 and that the company, which recently completed an expansion of its production capacity at its Hasselt, Belgium facility, will add another shift to the plant’s production schedule this fall. The Hasselt factory manufactures Silicon Line’s patented optical components which are combined with the company’s ICs to fabricate modules used inside the housings at either end of active optical cables.

“Module sales to existing customers continue to grow, as do the number of customers we serve,” van der Linden said. “With bandwidth specifications for connectivity standards only increasing, we see a very bright future for active optical technology and our company.”

Active optical cables using Silicon Line technology require no outside power source for converting and transmitting electrical signals as optical signals and offer many benefits over conventional copper connections. They are much lighter and more flexible than copper for high bandwidth applications, have a  longer transmission distance and no susceptibility to electromagnetic interference (EMI).

Silicon Line kicked off 2019 by demonstrating the world’s first active optical cables with the company’s embedded proprietary technology to support all features of the recently released HDMI 2.1 specification at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. The company believes this will become the standard for connectivity with TVs, set top boxes, video game consoles, and other consumer electronics that will begin coming to market this year.   

For more information about Silicon Line’s active optical technology for HDMI, DisplayPort, USB, MIPI D-PHY or custom applications, contact Ian Jackson, director, sales and marketing at ian.jackson@silicon-line.com.

About Silicon Line

Silicon Line GmbH is the global leader in ultra-low-power optical link technology enabling thin, lightweight and long high-speed cables for consumer electronics, commercial and industrial applications. The company develops and manufactures integrated circuits and modules which allow a simple, low-cost, high volume assembly of active optical cables. Founded in 2005, Silicon Line is based in Munich, Germany with offices in Belgium, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China and the United States.

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SOURCE Silicon Line