One embodiment described herein provides a co-packaged optics (CPO) switch assembly. The CPO switch assembly includes a switch integrated circuit (IC) chip and a number of optical modules coupled to the switch IC chip. The switch IC chip and the optical modules are co-packaged within a same physical enclosure. The switch IC chip includes a switch logic and a digital signal processing (DSP) unit, and a respective optical module comprises: a photonic integrated chip (PIC), a first amplifier module, and a second amplifier module.