Abstract

Modern data centers face growing challenges in data communication bandwidth, chip heating, and the energy efficiency of large-scale computing networks. While optics provide efficient long-range data transmission, using optics for computation remains difficult due to limited scalability, programmability, and computational flexibility. We propose a hyperspectral compute-in-memory (CIM) architecture that integrates optical communication and computation to address these challenges. By leveraging wavelength- and space-division multiplexing for massively parallel data flow and replacing intra-chip electronic communication with optics, our architecture tackles the memory wall, thermal constraints, and scalability limitations. This hybrid optoelectronic system enables programmable, high-throughput computing with high on-chip compute density and offers a promising new direction for data center infrastructure.