DesignCon remains the premier annual destination for engineers and technology leaders working at the cutting edge of chip-to-chip and chip-to-module interconnects — and DesignCon 2026 was no exception. For Semtech's CopperEdge™ team, this year's show delivered a powerful message: the market is moving in our direction.
From the mainstreaming of 200G per channel to the formal launch of a new industry consortium, here are the top highlights and takeaways from Santa Clara.
200G Per Channel Goes Mainstream
If last year's DesignCon marked the beginning of a transition, 2026 confirmed the arrival. 200G per channel — or 1.6T interconnects — is now the industry standard conversation. Virtually every major player on the show floor was discussing 200G in real terms, with 100G per channel products quietly stepping into the background.
This shift follows NVIDIA's early push to advance the speed-per-lane benchmark, and over the past year the broader ecosystem has caught up. Semtech was well ahead of the curve: we committed to 200G more than a year ago, and today we're seeing the full market align behind that vision.
The industry discussions didn't stop at 200G, either. There was significant and substantive conversation around 400G per channel — what it might look like, what timelines are realistic, and what role copper will play. The consensus emerging from those conversations is clear: copper isn't going anywhere. It will continue to be a critical part of the interconnect landscape well beyond the 200G node, and Semtech intends to lead that next chapter too.
Semtech and TE Connectivity Paper Named Best Paper Finalist
The Semtech and TE Connectivity teams at DesignCon 2026, where their joint paper on 400G copper interconnect technology was named a Best Paper finalist.
One of the standout moments of DesignCon 2026 was the presentation of a co-developed technical paper from Semtech and TE Connectivity, focused entirely on 400G interconnect technology. 400G Channels for AI Applications: Passive and Active Copper Cable Assemblies to Enable Scale Up/Scale Out was presented by Sameh Elnaggar, principal system engineer on Semtech's signal integrity team and Ashika Pandankeril Shaji, manager system architect at TE Connectivity. The paper demonstrated clear thought leadership in advancing copper interconnects to the next performance frontier.
The response from attendees was exceptional — questions were engaged, substantive and driven by genuine curiosity about where the industry is headed. We're proud to share that the paper has been nominated as a finalist for DesignCon 2026's Best Paper award. Final results are typically announced in the months following the show, so stay tuned for that update.
The Linear Shift: Why Redrivers Are Having Their Moment
Perhaps the most significant market trend on display at DesignCon 2026 was the unmistakable industry-wide pivot toward linear, analog-based interconnect solutions — and it's a shift that plays directly to Semtech's strengths.
Here's what's driving it: many companies that built their first-generation 200G systems using retimers are now confronting the consequences of that approach. While retimers offer a reliable shortcut to getting designs to market quickly — by fully regenerating the signal at every stage — that convenience comes at a significant cost. Retimers are expensive components, and more critically in today's power-constrained AI and machine learning infrastructure environments, they consume substantial power.
Design teams are now actively setting internal targets for interconnect power reduction, and they're discovering that the vast majority of their links simply don't require full signal regeneration. For most links, what's needed is signal level re-establishment — precisely what a redriver or linear equalizer delivers, at a fraction of the power, latency and cost of a retimer.
Redrivers are transparent to the link training protocols used by host integrated circuits (ICs) on either side of the connection, allowing those devices to auto-negotiate settings and achieve clean, error-free links — without the overhead of retiming. The result: lower CapEx, lower OpEx and a path to a more competitive, power-efficient product.
This is Semtech's forte. Our CopperEdge redriver and equalizer portfolio is purpose-built for exactly this evolution, and the market has arrived at the same conclusion we reached years ago.
Semtech Co-Founds the ACC MSA — And Industry Interest Is Surging
Semtech joined as a co-founding member of the ACC MSA alongside industry leaders including AMD, Dell and NVIDIA.
Among the biggest news to come out of DesignCon 2026: Semtech joined as a co-founding member of the ACC MSA (Active Copper Cable Multi-Source Agreement), a new industry consortium dedicated to advancing interoperability standards for active copper cable and linear interconnect technology.
The launch generated immediate buzz on the show floor. Attendees who had followed the pre-show press coverage made it a priority to find us on the show floor to learn more, and in the days since the show, we've continued to receive inquiries from companies eager to understand what the ACC MSA is working to achieve — and how to get involved.
The founding membership includes industry heavyweights such as AMD, Dell and NVIDIA, alongside leading cable manufacturers and test equipment providers. This is the kind of ecosystem alignment that gives the broader market confidence to commit to a technology direction — and it directly addresses one of the key hesitations some customers have had about moving to linear interconnects: interoperability.
We expect additional companies to join the MSA over time, and the growing momentum is a strong indicator of where the industry is heading. To learn more about the ACC MSA and its founding members, visit acc-msa.org.
200G Linear Pluggable Optics: Optical Finds Its Place at a Copper Show
DesignCon has historically been a copper-first event — but linear pluggable optics (LPO) are beginning to make inroads. This year, Semtech's own Mark Kimber, senior principal product definition specialist, presented a paper on 200G Per Lane Linear Pluggable Optical Channels for Power-Efficient AI Interconnects, which was well received by an audience increasingly curious about how linear principles extend from copper into the optical domain.
Just as redrivers bring linear simplicity to copper interconnects, LPO applies the same philosophy to optical links — reducing latency, cost and complexity compared to traditional digital signal processor (DSP)-based optical modules. As data center operators look to scale their AI infrastructure, both linear copper and linear optical solutions are becoming essential tools in the design toolkit.
The Competitive Landscape: A Rising Tide
A sign of a healthy, growing market is new competition — and DesignCon 2026 made clear that more players are entering the high-speed copper interconnect space. Rather than a concern, we view this as validation. Companies don't enter a market dominated by a well-established leader unless they see a compelling opportunity. And with AI and machine learning infrastructure spending at an all-time high, the opportunity is undeniable.
For Semtech, increased competition is an invitation to continue innovating, stay nimble and build on the deep customer relationships and technical leadership we've developed as the pioneer in this space. The market is large, growing and moving in a direction that aligns with everything we do well.
Looking Ahead
DesignCon 2026 reinforced that the signal integrity and high-speed interconnect markets are entering an exciting new phase — one defined by the transition to 200G, the power efficiency imperative and the growing role of linear, analog solutions across both copper and optical architectures.
Semtech is proud to be leading this industry forward and we look forward to continuing that work alongside our customers, partners and the broader ACC MSA community.
Want to learn more about Semtech's CopperEdge redriver and equalizer solutions? Visit our product page
Interested in the ACC MSA? Learn more at acc-msa.org
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