MaxLinear has announced the availability of its Washington TIA, a four-lane transimpedance amplifier supporting 200G per lane, designed for 1.6T optical transceiver modules targeting AI-driven data center applications.
As hyperscale data centers continue to scale bandwidth and extend reach to support larger AI clusters, Washington delivers a low-power, low-noise analog front end built for next-generation optical architectures.
The four-lane transimpedance amplifier is known to be the first in a planned family of low-noise TIAs aimed at supporting a wide range of emerging interface types, including fully retimed, half-retimed, and linear architectures such as LRO/LPO, NPO, XPO, and CPO.
It further strengthens MaxLinear’s growing data center portfolio, which includes DSPs, TIAs, drivers, and SERDES giving customers the flexibility to design systems optimized for performance, power, and reach.
Transitions From 800G to 1.6T And Beyond
As the industry transitions from 800G to 1.6T and beyond, data center operators and module vendors are under increasing pressure to deliver higher bandwidth while managing power consumption, signal integrity, and total cost of ownership.
Washington, four-lane transimpedance amplifier addresses these challenges with a high-bandwidth analog front end optimized for both power efficiency and low-noise performance, built on a robust and high-yield SiGe process.
The device is designed to interoperate seamlessly with PAM4 DSPs from all major vendors, offering system-level improvements in efficiency and signal quality across various architectures.
When paired with MaxLinear’s Rushmore PAM4 DSP, it enables tighter analog-digital co-optimization across the receive signal chain. Its flat frequency response helps mitigate high-frequency parasitics, improving overall signal integrity, reach, and system performance.
Washington is also pad-compatible with other leading TIAs and most flip-chip high-speed photodetectors, making it easier to integrate into existing 1.6T module designs.
Key Features Include:
- Typical power consumption of around 750 mW for four channels,
- 750 µm lane spacing, low noise and group delay, strong linearity, and integrated programmable automatic gain control.
- Includes photodiode bias, per-channel RSSI, I2C control and monitoring, and is built on an advanced SiGe process node.
This launch further expands MaxLinear’s connectivity solutions portfolio for AI-driven scale-up and scale-out architectures, spanning both optical and copper interconnects. The company’s Keystone DSP platform is already in volume production for 400G and 800G applications.
Meanwhile, the 1.6T Rushmore optical DSP family with integrated drivers and the Annapurna copper DSP for active electrical cables are currently sampling.
MaxLinear also plans to sample its 16-lane, 3.2T Makalu on-board scale-up retimer in Q4 2026.
Leadership Comment
“The TIA market for AI data center connectivity represents a significant growth opportunity for MaxLinear,” said Rajneesh Gaur, SVP & GM, Data Center Connectivity Business Unit at MaxLinear. “Industry analysts project the fully retimed pluggable optics market with TIAs to exceed 150 million units by 2030, with the LPO and LRO segments surpassing 20 million units. Washington and next generation TIA products position MaxLinear to capture meaningful share across all three segments with a versatile product family.”
Samples of Washington are available now, with mass production expected in the second half of 2026.
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