NVIDIA and Cisco Unveil New Optics Standard for AI Data Centers

NVIDIA and Cisco have announced the Ultra-Dense Small Form Factor Pluggable (USFP) optics, a new high-density 400Gb/s-per-lane optical module. This innovation aims to enable the hardware ecosystem to scale next-generation AI factories by allowing AI builders to increase compute density within existing network footprints. The USFP standard is designed to improve power efficiency and reduce network complexity, addressing critical challenges in expanding AI infrastructure.