IC Colloquium: When Signals and Collaboration Team Up
By: Amin Shokrollahi, Founder and CTO of Kandou AI, and Prof. em. EPFL
Video of his talk
Abstract
Electrical data transmission between integrated circuits (ICs) is rapidly becoming one of the most significant bottlenecks in modern computing, particularly with the rise of AI and High-Performance Computing (HPC), which demand exponentially increasing data movement. Traditional serial links and signaling methods are reaching their physical limits due to high-frequency channel loss, making simple rate increases unsustainable. The industry is urgently seeking fundamental shifts in modulation and coding to meet this insatiable demand for speed and bandwidth density. At Kandou, we have pioneered Chord Signaling—also known as Copper MIMO links—a modulation technology that dramatically increases communication throughput by utilizing correlated data transmission across multiple copper wires. This technique effectively turns channel impairments into an opportunity, allowing us to exceed the performance boundaries of conventional signaling. This presentation will explore the theoretical underpinnings of Copper MIMO links, detail the productization of this technology and its next-generation successors, and discuss the immense challenges and opportunities facing the industry. We will touch upon cutting-edge problems we solve daily across domains, including advanced analog and digital IC design, high-level RTL and embedded software development, sophisticated digital and analog verification, and complex signal processing for low-latency, high-reliability data transport. Kandou stands at the intersection of applied communications theory and silicon realization, driving the connective tissue of future data centers. We invite Faculty, PhD, and MSc students to explore how their research and skills align with Kandou's mission to solve the world's most demanding connectivity challenges.
Video of his talk
Abstract
Electrical data transmission between integrated circuits (ICs) is rapidly becoming one of the most significant bottlenecks in modern computing, particularly with the rise of AI and High-Performance Computing (HPC), which demand exponentially increasing data movement. Traditional serial links and signaling methods are reaching their physical limits due to high-frequency channel loss, making simple rate increases unsustainable. The industry is urgently seeking fundamental shifts in modulation and coding to meet this insatiable demand for speed and bandwidth density. At Kandou, we have pioneered Chord Signaling—also known as Copper MIMO links—a modulation technology that dramatically increases communication throughput by utilizing correlated data transmission across multiple copper wires. This technique effectively turns channel impairments into an opportunity, allowing us to exceed the performance boundaries of conventional signaling. This presentation will explore the theoretical underpinnings of Copper MIMO links, detail the productization of this technology and its next-generation successors, and discuss the immense challenges and opportunities facing the industry. We will touch upon cutting-edge problems we solve daily across domains, including advanced analog and digital IC design, high-level RTL and embedded software development, sophisticated digital and analog verification, and complex signal processing for low-latency, high-reliability data transport. Kandou stands at the intersection of applied communications theory and silicon realization, driving the connective tissue of future data centers. We invite Faculty, PhD, and MSc students to explore how their research and skills align with Kandou's mission to solve the world's most demanding connectivity challenges.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Contact
- Host: Viktor Kuncak