MaxLinear Launches 200G/Lane TIA for 1.6T Data Centers

MaxLinear, Inc. (Nasdaq: MXL), a leading provider of high‑speed interconnect ICs for data centre, metro, and wireless transport networks,  announced the availability of its Washington TIA, a four-lane, 200G/lane transimpedance amplifier designed for 1.6T optical transceiver modules for AI data centre applications. As hyperscale data centres scale bandwidth and reach to support larger AI clusters, Washington delivers a low-power, low-noise linear analog front end tailored for next-generation optical architectures.

Washington is the first product in a planned family of low-noise TIAs designed to support next-generation fully retimed, half-retimed, and linear interfaces, including LRO/LPO, NPO, XPO, and CPO applications. As the latest addition to MaxLinear’s expanding data centre portfolio, Washington complements the company’s comprehensive set of building blocks, including DSPs, TIAs, drivers, and SERDES, enabling customers to architect systems optimised for their specific performance, power, and reach requirements.

As data centre networks evolve from today’s 800G connectivity toward next-generation 1.6T and beyond, data centre operators and module vendors face increasing pressure to scale bandwidth while tightly managing power consumption, signal integrity, and total cost of ownership (TCO). Washington is designed to address these challenges with a high-bandwidth analogue front end optimised for power efficiency and noise performance, built in a robust, high-yielding SiGe process technology.

Washington interoperates with PAM4 DSPs from all major PAM4 DSP vendors, delivering system-level advantages in efficiency and signal quality across a broad range of system architectures. When paired with MaxLinear’s Rushmore PAM4 DSP, Washington enables additional system-level optimisation through close analogue-digital co-optimisation across the receive signal chain. Its flat frequency response helps minimise and overcome the impact of high-frequency system parasitics to deliver robust system-level signal integrity, reach, and performance.

Washington is pad-compatible with other leading TIAs and most flip-chip high-speed photodetectors on the market, simplifying integration into existing 1.6T module designs.

Washington TIA Key Features

• Power consumption: ~750mW typical for four channels
• Four-channel TIA with 750µm lane spacing
• Low noise, low group delay, excellent linearity
• Integrated, programmable automatic gain control (AGC)
• Integrated photodiode bias and per-channel received signal strength indicator (RSSI)
• I²C control and monitoring
• Advanced SiGe process node

“The TIA market for AI data centre connectivity represents a significant growth opportunity for MaxLinear,” said Rajneesh Gaur, SVP & GM, Data Centre 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.”

Washington expands MaxLinear’s growing portfolio of connectivity solutions for AI-driven scale-up and scale-out architectures, across both optical and copper interconnects. MaxLinear’s Keystone DSP platform is in volume production for 400G and 800G applications. The 1.6T Rushmore family of optical DSPs with integrated drivers and the Annapurna copper DSP for active electrical cables are sampling today. The 16-lane, 3.2T Makalu on-board scale-up retimer is scheduled to sample in the fourth quarter of 2026.