Broadcom has unveiled its latest innovation in AI networking technology—the Thor Ultra, the industry’s first 800G AI Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC). This advanced networking chip is designed to enable the deployment of vast artificial intelligence computing systems by interconnecting hundreds of thousands of processing units, also known as XPUs, which include AI accelerators.
The Thor Ultra chip adheres to the open Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC) standard, which ensures enhanced performance, scalability, and reliability in AI-driven data center networks.
It introduces next-generation features including advanced remote direct memory access (RDMA) capabilities, multipathing, out-of-order packet delivery, selective retransmit, and scalable congestion control.
These innovations address the growing demands of AI scale-out networking by enabling efficient, low-latency communication across expansive GPU and XPU clusters.
The launch of Thor Ultra represents a strategic move to deepen Broadcom’s footprint in AI infrastructure, intensifying competition with rival Nvidia.
The prior agreement between Broadcom and OpenAI to supply 10 gigawatts of custom AI chips beginning in the latter half of 2026 reinforces Broadcom’s commitment to leading in AI hardware.
Beyond the Thor Ultra NIC, Broadcom continues to expand its AI networking portfolio with complementary products such as the Tomahawk series of Ethernet switches, facilitating seamless integration and optimized AI cluster performance.
This breakthrough affirms Broadcom’s vision to future-proof AI edge networks, delivering intelligent, low-latency, and high-throughput connectivity vital for the next era of artificial intelligence innovation.
Additional Features Include:
- Available in standard PCIe CEM and OCP 3.0 form factors.
- 200G or 100G PAM4 SerDes with support for long-reach passive copper.
- Industry’s lowest Bit Error Rate (BER) SerDes, reducing link flaps and accelerating Job Completion Time (JCT).
- PCI Express Gen6 x16 host interface.
- Line-rate encryption and decryption with PSP offload, relieving the host/XPU of compute-intensive tasks.
- Secure boot with signed firmware and device attestation.
- Programmable congestion control pipeline.
- Packet trimming and Congestion Signaling (CSIG) support with Tomahawk 5, Tomahawk 6 or any UEC compliant switch.
Leadership Comments
Senior Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom’s Core Switching Group, Ram Velaga, remarked, “Thor Ultra delivers on the vision of the Ultra Ethernet Consortium for modernizing RDMA for large AI clusters. Designed from the ground up, it is the industry’s first 800G Ethernet NIC and fully compliant with the UEC specification. This product provides the necessary performance, scalability, and openness for future AI clusters—without vendor lock-in and with true interoperability.”
