KD Brings an Automotive Perspective to ECOC 2026

2026-09-25 · KD

KD brought a distinctly automotive perspective to ECOC 2026, held in Málaga, Spain, at a time when much of the conversation across the optical communications industry was focused on artificial intelligence, data-center scaling and next-generation network infrastructure. The 52nd European Conference on Optical Communication gathered more than 6,500 scientists, industry leaders and executives, while the exhibition featured more than 340 global exhibitors and a strong international community spanning manufacturers, technology suppliers, service providers and decision-makers. AI infrastructure, co-packaged optics, silicon photonics and high-performance optical interconnects were among the prominent topics throughout the event, making KD’s presence particularly distinctive: an automotive semiconductor company demonstrating how the advantages of optical communications can already be applied inside vehicles.

At Stand 1010, KD was represented by Carlos Pardo, CEO of KD; Iria García, Senior AMS IC Design Engineer; David Ortiz, CTO; Daniel Moreno, FAE; and Luisma Torres, Principal Engineer. The team showcased a 10GBASE-AU optical camera demonstration developed in collaboration with Leopard Imaging and Corning, providing a real example of fiber-optic connectivity implemented for an automotive application. The setup featured Leopard Imaging’s LI-VENUS-ISX031-BASE-AU camera incorporating KD’s KD7251 10GBASE-AU optical transceiver, together with an automotive-grade connector and fiber-optic cabling from Corning. Rather than presenting optical connectivity as an isolated component or laboratory concept, the demo brought the complete link together and showed visitors what an optical automotive camera implementation can look like in practice, with data communications scalable to 10 Gb/s and a link designed for distances of up to 40 meters.

One of the aspects that generated the most interest was the difference between automotive optical communications and the technologies traditionally associated with telecom and data centers. Automotive applications impose particularly demanding environmental requirements, with components expected to operate reliably across the challenging temperature conditions required by the industry, including ranges extending from -40°C to +125°C, while also meeting stringent reliability and electromagnetic compatibility requirements. KD’s single-chip approach was another recurring point of interest among visitors, highlighting the level of integration required to make high-speed optical connectivity compact and practical for automotive applications. These characteristics helped turn conversations at the booth from a comparison of raw transmission speeds into a broader discussion about what it takes to make optical connectivity robust and scalable inside a vehicle.

The automotive use case proved especially effective in attracting visitors in an exhibition environment dominated by AI and data-center applications. According to the KD team, the fact that the technology was designed around automotive requirements, together with the level of integration offered by its architecture, became recurring discussion points with attendees. KD held conversations with a number of component suppliers, while representatives from telecommunications companies also stopped at the stand to explore the technology despite its automotive focus. The crossover highlighted how developments originating in different optical markets can increasingly inform one another as bandwidth, power consumption, robustness and integration become common challenges across applications.

The live camera demonstration also created some unexpected conversations beyond KD’s core target audience. Visitors with connections to the camera and image-processing industries were particularly interested in the image quality, low latency and transmission distance achieved over the optical link. For KD, this response reinforced the value of bringing a complete, working use case to ECOC: fiber-optic automotive communications are moving beyond specifications and individual components toward systems that can be seen operating in real time. Against the backdrop of an ECOC edition heavily shaped by the infrastructure demands of AI, KD’s participation showed another side of the same connectivity challenge—how high-speed optical links can support the growing volumes of data generated by cameras and other sensors in next-generation vehicles.

About KD

KD is a Spanish semiconductor company leading the market for high-speed data transmission through optical fiber in challenging environments. For 15 years, the company has been reinventing the way optical communications are made to make them robust and affordable enough for the automotive, consumer and industrial markets.