Wire · technology
NVIDIA and Cisco Introduce New Pluggable Optics Form Factor to Scale AI Factories
◆ Sectors
◆ Geography
◆ Source
◆ Verified
Fusion42 · 18 October 2026 · Fusion42 review
NVIDIA and Cisco introduced USFP, a new ultra-dense pluggable optics form factor supporting 400Gb/s electrical lanes to increase optical interconnect density for AI data centers. This move reflects a shift in AI infrastructure priorities from pure energy efficiency towards bandwidth density, serviceability, and cost-effectiveness.
This Wire brief sits within Fusion42's coverage of AI Infrastructure, Semiconductors and Telecom & Connectivity.
◆ ◆ The Wire takeaway
You must rethink AI data-center design to favour pluggable optics for flexible scaling and serviceability over co-packaged optics alone. The new USFP form factor opens a window to serve dense AI clusters with high bandwidth but easier deployment and maintenance.
◆ Coverage
1 source · 18 Oct 2026
◆ Related on Wire
◆ Topics