NVIDIA has launched two network chips, namely NVIDIA Spectrum-X and NVIDIA Quantum-X. The special feature of these chips is that they connect externally using light through straight fiber optics, cutting out the need for transceivers in traditional network switches that have to convert signals into electrical signals and then send data back into the switch. Instead, they directly receive light into the switch chip (even though they are actually separate pieces on the switch circuit, they are integrated on the same interposer board).
Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, stated that high-performance transceivers currently cost around $1,000 and consume up to 30 watts of electricity. On average, adding one GPU chip requires about 6 connection points, leading to higher costs in terms of investment and energy consumption. Incorporating the transceiver function into the chip itself leads to improved efficiency.
NVIDIA Quantum-X is an Infiniband with 144 ports at 800Gb/s, expected to be delivered this year.
NVIDIA Spectrum-X is an Ethernet switch starting at a speed of 100Tb/s, configurable from 128 ports at 800Gb/s up to 512 ports at 200Gb/s, and the larger model at 400Tb/s can configure 512 ports at 800Gb/s or 2,048 ports at 200Gb/s, set to be delivered in 2026.
Overall, NVIDIA claims that post-process performance will increase by a factor of 3.5, with significantly improved signal quality.
TLDR: NVIDIA introduces cutting-edge network chips with direct external connection via light, eliminating the need for transceivers, leading to enhanced performance and signal quality.
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