Beyond Copper and Optics: How e‑Tube Powers the Terabit Era

As data centers push toward terabit-scale bandwidth, legacy copper interconnects are hitting their limit or as the industry calls it, the “copper cliff.” Traditional copper cabling, once the workhorse of short-reach connectivity, has become too thick, too inflexible, and too short to keep pace with the scale of xPU bandwidth growth in the data center. On the other hand, optical solutions will work but are saddled with the “optical penalty,” that includes power-hungry and expensive electrical and optical components, manufacturing design complexity,  latency challenges and more importantly, reliability issues after deployment.

With performance, cost, and operational downsides increasing for both copper and optical interconnect, network operators are looking beyond the old interconnect paradigm and toward more scalable options to scale at the pace of the next generation AI clusters in data centers.

Enter e-Tube: the industry’s third interconnect option.

e-Tube Technology is a scalable multi-terabit interconnect platform that uses RF data transmission through a plastic dielectric waveguide. Designed to meet the coming demands of 1.6T and 3.2T bandwidth requirements, e-Tube leverages cables made from common plastic material such as low-density polyethylene (LDPE), which avoids the high-frequency loss and physical constraints inherent to copper. The result is a flexible, power-efficient, and highly reliable link that delivers the reach and performance required to scale up AI clusters in next-generation data center designs.

Figure 1 [Patented e-Tube Platform]

The industry is taking notice of the impact e-Tube will make, with results showing up to 10x the reach of copper while being 5x lighter and 2x thinner. Compared with optical cables, e-Tube consumes 3x less power, achieves 1,000x lower latency, and an impressive 3x less cost. Its scalable design architecture delivers consistent bandwidth for future data speeds to 448Gbps and beyond across networks, extending existing use cases and creating new applications that copper and optical interconnects cannot support.

With the impending copper cliff and optical penalty looming in the horizon, the time is now for data center operators to consider a third interconnect option. e-Tube RF transmission over a plastic dielectric delivers measurable impact with longer reach, best-in-class energy efficiency, near-zero latency, not to mention a cost-effective option. As AI workloads explode and terabit-scale fabrics become the norm, e‑Tube is posed to be a foundational cable interconnect for scaling up AI clusters for the next generation of data centers.

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About the Author

Sean Park is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of experience in the semiconductors, wireless, and networking market. Throughout his career, Sean has held several leadership positions at prominent technology companies, including IDT, TeraSquare, and Marvell Semiconductor. As the CEO, CTO, and Founder at TeraSquare, Sean was responsible for leading the company’s strategic direction and overseeing its day-to-day operations. He also served as a Director at Marvell, where he provided invaluable guidance and expertise to help the company achieve its goals. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington and also attended Seoul National University.

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