Broadcom on Thursday announced that it has begun shipping a high-bandwidth switch for AI computer clusters that uses 70% less power than current systems. Broadcom stock has risen this year on its exposure to the AI data center market.
The chipmaker will be showing off Bailly, the industry's first 51.2 terabits-per-second co-packaged optics Ethernet switch, at the Optical Fiber Communication 2024 conference later this month. OFC will run March 24 to 28 in San Diego.
In a news release, Broadcom said its latest switch provides the lowest latency, highest bandwidth density, lowest power, and lowest cost solution for large-scale AI clusters.
Bailly integrates eight silicon photonics-based 6.4 terabits-per-second optical engines with Broadcom's StrataXGS Tomahawk 5 switch chip. Bailly enables the optical interconnect to operate at 70% lower power consumption compared with pluggable transceiver solutions, the company said.
Broadcom Stock Is On Two IBD Lists
On the stock market today, Broadcom stock rose 0.4% to close at 1,262.27.
While AI processors and accelerators get most of the attention, networking technologies are critical to the efficient operation of data centers running artificial-intelligence applications. Broadcom said it has delivered its Bailly switch to several customers already.
"Innovation in the optical interconnect will be of great importance to future generations of AI networks," Feng Luo, head of network systems at TikTok parent ByteDance, said in the news release. "Broadcom's continued progress in the development of co-packaged optics is exactly what the industry will require to overcome cost and power bottlenecks of current generation optical interconnects."
On Wednesday, Broadcom announced an expanded portfolio of optical interconnect solutions for artificial intelligence and machine learning applications. The products facilitate high-speed connections for front-end and back-end networks of large-scale generative AI compute clusters.
Broadcom stock is on two IBD stock lists: Big Cap 20 and Tech Leaders. Broadcom stock has a best-possible IBD Composite Rating of 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup.
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