NVIDIA Launches New Switches with TSMC's Co-Packaged Optics
2 Min Read July 16, 2025
NVIDIA adds co-packaged optics to Quantum‑X and Spectrum‑X switches, promising major power and performance gains for hyperscale data center interconnects.
NVIDIA announced the incorporation of co-packaged optics (CPO) into the Quantum‑X Infiniband and Spectrum‑X Ethernet switches. Claimed performance improvements include "3.5× more power efficiency, 63× greater signal integrity, 10× better network resiliency at scale, and 1.3× faster deployment compared with traditional methods", and using only 25% of the lasers needed in earlier systems.
While copper is suitable for short interconnections within racks, datacenters are scaling out, and fiber connections are used for longer runs. Convention is to use plug‑in transceiver modules, which draw about 30 W each, so scaling out to tens or hundreds of thousands of GPUs pushes the power envelope to unacceptable levels for interconnect (NVIDIA quoted megawatts).
Moving the transceiver function closer to the switch saves power, so NVIDIA has been working with partners to enable integration of transceivers into the same assembly as the switch silicon.
