NVIDIA and Cisco's USFP Module Hits 12.8Tb/s to Rewire AI Data Centers
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 12, 2026.
NVIDIA and Cisco Introduce New Pluggable Optics Form Factor to Scale AI Factories
Nvidia is pushing deeper into the optics layer where Broadcom and Marvell make their money, teaming with Cisco on a module that packs 4x the bandwidth density of today's 200Gb/s-per-lane parts and reaches 12.8Tb/s per connection. TE Connectivity and Amphenol are already signed on to build the cages and connectors, and the two plan an open multi-source spec, which is how a vendor design becomes the industry default.
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NVIDIA and Cisco have jointly announced the Ultra-Dense Small Form Factor Pluggable, or USFP, an optical module standard reaching 12.8Tb/s of bandwidth per connection. That matters now as AI factories push switch fabrics to their limits.
The two companies plan to publish an open multi-source specification rather than keep the design proprietary. An open MSA is the mechanism by which a vendor-backed design becomes the industry default, spreading across suppliers and ultimately locking in the underlying architecture as the reference point everyone else builds around.
TE Connectivity and Amphenol have already committed to manufacturing the cages and connectors the USFP format requires. Early hardware partner involvement at this stage is significant: it means the mechanical ecosystem is being designed in parallel with the electrical spec, which shortens the path from announcement to deployed product.
Broadcom and Marvell currently hold strong positions in the high-speed interconnect and optics silicon layer that USFP is designed to address. NVIDIA entering that space alongside Cisco, with an open specification and two major connector makers already signed on, shifts the center of gravity in AI networking hardware.