Conversation with Ayar Labs CEO Mark Wade on Silicon Photonics, Co-Packaged Optics, and Next-Gen AI Infrastructure With @BenBajarin and @jaygoldberg. 0:00 Introduction and the interconnect bottleneck 2:29 The high-level pitch for IR Labs and optical connectivity 4:42 Why building optical solutions is so difficult 7:30 Why now? The catalyst of ChatGPT 11:46 The complexities of advanced packaging and manufacturing 16:05 Navigating the future landscape of interconnects 21:00 Exploring digital twin manufacturing models 24:54 IR Labs' core bet on CMOS-scale foundries 28:06 Confidence in the TSMC COUPE process 33:48 Customer adoption hurdles and strategic partnerships 38:05 Funding strategy, Series E, and the path to IPO 43:40 Interacting with Wall Street and public investors 48:24 Wrap-up and future market size estimates