# 3M and Microsoft Partner on AI Data Center Optical Interconnect Technology

> 3M and Microsoft have announced a partnership to bring 3M's Expanded Beam Optical technology into Azure data centers, a July 15 deal that 3M says marks the first hyperscale adoption of the interconnect approach. The subject sounds niche, but it points at one of the AI industry's real bottlenecks. As AI clusters grow, moving data between chips fast enough, and without burning excessive power, has become as hard a problem as the chips themselves. Optical interconnects use light rather than electrical signals to shuttle data, promising higher bandwidth and lower energy cost inside the racks that train and serve large models. That a materials company and a hyperscaler are partnering on the plumbing is a reminder that the AI buildout is increasingly a physical-infrastructure story. The gains from better models now run up against limits in power and connectivity, and the companies that solve those quietly may matter as much as the labs making headlines.

_Section: [Daily AI Updates](https://www.wortins.com/daily-ai) · Source: Microsoft News · Published Wednesday, July 22, 2026_

## Wortins' read

3M and Microsoft have announced a partnership to bring 3M's Expanded Beam Optical technology into Azure data centers, a July 15 deal that 3M says marks the first hyperscale adoption of the interconnect approach. The subject sounds niche, but it points at one of the AI industry's real bottlenecks. As AI clusters grow, moving data between chips fast enough, and without burning excessive power, has become as hard a problem as the chips themselves. Optical interconnects use light rather than electrical signals to shuttle data, promising higher bandwidth and lower energy cost inside the racks that train and serve large models. That a materials company and a hyperscaler are partnering on the plumbing is a reminder that the AI buildout is increasingly a physical-infrastructure story. The gains from better models now run up against limits in power and connectivity, and the companies that solve those quietly may matter as much as the labs making headlines.

## Source

[Read the full story at Microsoft News](https://news.microsoft.com/source/2026/07/15/3m-and-microsoft-announce-strategic-partnership-to-advance-ai-data-center-infrastructure-and-enterprise-transformation/)

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