Broadcom Tomahawk 6 takes a swing at data-center and AI-cluster networks
Broadcom's data-center switch group extends its long record of successful execution by shipping Tomahawk 6. Judging from its photo and the description of 200 Gbps and 100 Gbps serdes options, it looks like a chiplet design comprising a monolithic switch chip and separate I/O chiplets. The 100 Gbps option provides a whopping 1,024 lanes. The company also offers a CPO option, having been at the forefront of CPO technology and developing CPO implementations for previous generations.
As for AI features, Tomahawk 6 implements various Ethernet extensions to mitigate congestion and other problems that occur when 100,000 interconnected nodes swap data all at once.
