In TPU pods, particularly TPUv4 and later generations, optical modules are used to connect TPU chips across cubes. Each TPU chip has multiple Inter-Chip Interconnect (ICI) links forming a 3D torus topology. While internal links within a cube rely on copper and PCB backplanes, the external links on the cube surfaces use optical connections that interface with OCS units for dynamic routing and large-scale scaling .
The optical circuit switches (OCS) act as a dynamic patch panel, creating direct optical paths between TPU chips. This design minimizes repeated optical-electrical-optical conversions, reducing latency and signal loss. For example, in a TPUv4 Pod, each cube has 96 optical links connected to OCS, and multiple OCS units are organized to handle traffic along the X, Y, and Z axes of the 3D torus . MEMS devices in the OCS physically redirect laser beams to establish these optical circuits .
Using optical modules in TPU pods provides several advantages:
In conclusion, TPUs do use optical modules, primarily for inter-cube communication in large TPU pods. These optical modules, integrated with optical circuit switches, enable high-speed, low-latency, and energy-efficient data transfer across thousands of TPU chips, which is critical for large-scale AI training and inference workloads .
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