In this article a comprehensive figures of merit for both passive and active plasmonic circuit components are introduced, benchmarking their performance for the realisation of high-bandwidth optical data communication in electronic chips. For the first time the figure of merit for passive plasmonic interconnects has been derived in terms of ultimate global characteristics of the plasmonic circuitry, particularly bandwidth and power consumption densities. Then, these parameters were linked to the local waveguide characteristics, such as mode propagation length, bending radius, etc. The figure has been applied to provide a comprehensive comparison to the main types of the plasmonics waveguides and can serve as an excellent benchmark for future designs. Completing the development of broadband optical on-chip data communication, we developed an all-inclusive figure of merit for active photonic- or plasmonic-based electro-optic modulators, establishing the communication between electronic and photonic chip domains. A particular accent has been made on establishing practically-oriented benchmark where the integral performance of the circuit, not the size of the component as a goal in itself, plays the defining role.