NVIDIA and Cisco Introduce New Pluggable Optics Form Factor to Scale AI Factories
Key Highlights
- ➤USFP supports 400Gb/s-per-lane signals and up to 12.8Tb/s capacity
- ➤USFP delivers 4x bandwidth density versus 200Gb/s-per-lane modules
- ➤USFP offers approximately 1.3x power efficiency versus 200Gb/s-per-lane optics
- ➤NVIDIA and Cisco are collaborating with TE Connectivity and Amphenol on hardware
- ➤NVIDIA and Cisco plan an open industry specification for USFP
Expert Statements
Gilad Shainer, Senior vice president, NVIDIA
“Building the world’s largest AI factories starts with rethinking the smallest of connections. With USFP, NVIDIA and Cisco are building an ecosystem to reinvent pluggable optics — connecting more computing with greater efficiency to power the next generation of AI factories.”
Bill Gartner, Senior vice president and general manager of optical systems and optics, Cisco
“AI builders need an interconnect architecture that can scale performance without locking them into a more complex operating model. Cisco and NVIDIA recognized that scaling pluggable optics to 400Gb/s per lane would require more than another incremental extension of today’s module designs. Through our collaboration, USFP is designed to deliver a new level of bandwidth density while preserving the serviceability, deployment flexibility and operational simplicity of pluggable optics. By taking a full-stack approach — from silicon and systems to optics and the network operating system — we can optimize every layer to deliver the performance and scale the next generation of AI networks will require.”
News Summary: * Ultra-Dense Small Form Factor Pluggable (USFP) is designed to be the first module to support 400Gb/s-per-lane electrical signals, enabling capacity up to 12.8Tb/s so AI factory builders can scale Ethernet AI fabrics, while extending a proven deployment model across multiple generations of data center networks. * USFP delivers 4x the bandwidth density and 1.3x the power efficiency of 200Gb/s-per-lane optics so AI factories can connect more computing systems without adding network tiers, while using less power to move each bit of data. * NVIDIA and Cisco are working with TE Connectivity and Amphenol to build a multi-source hardware ecosystem around USFP. SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OCP -- NVIDIA and Cisco today announced plans for Ultra-Dense Small Form Factor Pluggable (USFP), a new high-density 400Gb/s-per-lane optical module designed to equip the hardware ecosystem for the next generation of AI factories using pluggable transceivers.
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