Astera Labs bets on phased coexistence — copper and optical together, scale-up optics targeted 2028 via its photonics acquisition. NVIDIA runs production packaging co-developed with TSMC. Broadcom advocates copper while keeping its co-packaged switch unnamed. Marvell integrates acquired photonics into custom AI processors. Cisco concedes "not imminent." Every contestant still routes through TSMC for leading-edge logic and advanced packaging. The arena owner collects every round.