🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Mixx’s stealth approach obscures the technical details investors need

• Investors still lack basics on Mixx’s approach 1. Whether it uses co-packaged optics (CPO; optics integrated beside the switch or accelerator package to shorten electrical traces), optical input or output (I/O) chiplets (small optical dies near compute dies to move data), or advanced pluggables (optical modules that plug into switch or server ports) remains unclear. Rivals include Ayar Labs (a silicon photonics startup backed by Nvidia) and Celestial AI (an optical interconnect company valued over $1 billion) 1.
• Broadcom set a bar with CPO at 65% lower power than pluggables and 1 million 400G equivalent device hours of flap free operation at Meta 2. Mixx has not shared pJ per bit or latency or throughput in Tbps to back a claim of petabit bandwidth connectivity at about 1,000 Tbps 3. Mixx needs hyperscaler pilots or GPU vendor partnerships to show traction beyond the $33M raise.

Mixx hiring opens vendor lanes

• Packaging firms with capabilities similar to PHIX’s fiber attachment and hybrid assembly can pitch co development for 3DS platform integration, a 3D integrated photonics or electronics stack 4. Test vendors can target optical test systems 3. Interconnect suppliers can focus on fiber coupling driven by test first and ASIC last integration 3. ASIC means application specific integrated circuit. Mixx also cites on chip fiber integration 3. Vendors can use NRE which means non recurring engineering 3.