Marvell announced the launch of 800G PAM4 DSP and 1.6T Ethernet PHY chips based on 5nm CMOS process at the analyst day event on December 6, 2022. One of last year's top-performing technology companies, Marvell's sales are expected to hit $6 billion, nearly double what it was a year ago. As can be seen from the figure, the performance of almost every field involved in this company has more than doubled.

Marvell's biggest signal to the optical communications industry is that they are ready to cross the 7nm stage and go directly to 5nm to further consolidate their leadership in the data center chip market, especially in the emerging 800G market. As early as this year's OFC, Marvell announced its own 800G products. This year's OFC is also a show for many optical module companies including InnoLight, Accelink, Source, and Huagong to showcase 800G modules. InnoLight also disclosed last month that it has received orders for 800G modules.

HeavyReading conducted a survey at the end of last year and found that more than half of the operators surveyed planned to deploy 800G coherent modules in 2023. An article by LightReading on the 20th also pointed out that the successful experience in the previous deployment of 400G modules can also be used in the deployment of 800G modules. The 800G QSFP-DD-800 format is compatible with 400G QSFP-DD, 200G QSFP56 and 100G QSFP28 modules. Through backward compatibility with 100G, 200G, and 400G technologies, especially the development of silicon photonics technology, the deployment cost of 800G optical modules can be reduced.

Since 2019, companies such as Broadcom have successively launched 25.6T switching chips, and 800G optical modules have begun to attract more attention. 2023 should be the march of the 800G new era.