3M and Industry Leaders Form Coalition to Standardize Optical Connections for AI Data Centers

May 12, 2026
3M has joined a coalition of major technology companies to develop open standards for expanded beam optical connectivity used in AI data centers. The group aims to establish interoperable specifications to accelerate high-performance optical interconnect deployment.

3M has joined a new coalition of technology companies to create a multi source agreement advancing open, interoperable expanded beam optical connectivity standards for AI infrastructure, announced in a press release.

The coalition includes industry participants such as Accelink, Aperion, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), Amphenol, Arista Networks, Cisco Systems, Inc., Meta Platforms, Inc., Molex, Nexthop-ai, Oracle, Senko, Source Photonics, Sumitomo, TE Connectivity, viaPhoton, and Xscape Photonics.

The agreement provides a framework for members to develop standardized specifications for expanded beam optical connector solutions, which are intended to support the scaling of AI data centers. The initial technical working group has started work on the first connector specification, and the group remains open to new members from across the data center and networking sectors.

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