Ethernet Moves into Dominant Position in AI Networking

Broadcom Highlights Size of Ethernet Clusters as Tomahawk 5 and Jericho3AI Platforms Begin to Ramp Up

Broadcom continued to talk about Tomahawk 5 and Jericho3AI and the increasing size of hyperscaler deployments it expects over the next 12-24 months. Networking is directly correlated to the spending on GPUs and AI ASICs. As customers increase CAPEX expectations, we will see an upside to networking port and revenue projections.

Nvidia Provides Ethernet Switch Guidance for the First Time on their Earnings Call 

Nvidia changed its public reporting to include networking and called out Ethernet revenue targets for the first time in its earnings call. Surprising to many but consistent with our forecasts for Ethernet growth, Nvidia is seeing strong demand for its Spectrum-X Ethernet ASIC for back-end deployments as the company looks towards T2 and enterprise deployments where Ethernet is preferred and a necessity. 

Cisco Confirms $1B+ AI Networking Target and Highlight HyperFabric at Cisco Live 

Cisco announced Nexus HyperFabric AI clusters with Nvidia to help users design, validate, deploy, and monitor AI infrastructure. At the investor track, Cisco highlighted the $1B+ revenue expectations in networking from a mix of systems, Silicon One, and optics. Cisco is seeing significant traction with Ethernet in the back-end in proofs-of-concept and trials, and we should see the company’s new products ramp up in 2025. 

Arista Celebrates 10th Anniversary Since IPO and Launches New Etherlink AI Portfolio – Making Ethernet Great 

Arista announced its new Etherling AI switching portfolio and Tomahawk 5 switches before the NYSE 1-year IPO celebration. Hock Tan from Broadcom also attended to congratulate Arista and talk about AI networking. 

During its second quarter earning call, Arista validated the migration from InfiniBand to Ethernet, discussing four trials with Cloud and AI Titans and showcasing an AI win with a large Tier 2 cloud provider which has been heavily investing in GOUs to increase their revenue and penetrate new markets.  Jayshree Ullal, Arista’s CEO also stated having tens of smaller customers, are starting to do AI pilots. 

DriveNets confirms AI Hyperscaler customer and AI Ethernet pilots with other customers  

DriveNets is also providing AI Ethernet solutions based on Broadcom’s Jericho switches, supporting both Jericho 2C+ and Jericho3AI. In its recent presentation at the OCP regional summit in Lisbon, Broadcom mentioned that DriveNets’ Network Cloud-AI Ethernet fabric was validated and deployed by a tier-1 hyperscaler.  Like Arista, the company also mentioned that it is engaged in several AI-Ethernet customer pilots. 

2025 Forecast for Ethernet Continues to Increase 

Bringing all these announcements together, it is clear that Ethernet for AI back-end networks is about to explode, and overall, DC Switching will benefit from additional front-end network upgrades. With the inclusion of optics, InfiniBand, and Ethernet, the AI networking market will exceed $30B in 2028, providing one of the largest growth markets that Ethernet has ever experienced.