{"id":36947,"date":"2025-06-10T23:56:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T15:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/?p=36947"},"modified":"2026-05-21T11:51:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T03:51:21","slug":"spectrum-x-and-quantum-x","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/","title":{"rendered":"Spectrum-X and Quantum-X switches, Nvidia&#8217;s new territory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_83 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Nvidias_new_product_line\" >Nvidia&#8217;s new product line<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Rumors_confirmed\" >Rumors confirmed<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Product_Introduction\" >Product Introduction<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Spectrum-X_Photonics_Ethernet_switch\" >Spectrum-X Photonics Ethernet switch<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Quantum-X_Photonics_InfiniBand_switch\" >Quantum-X Photonics InfiniBand switch<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Field_of_competition\" >Field of competition<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Home_customer_communication\" >Home customer communication<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Corporate_network_communication\" >Corporate network communication<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Back-end_communication\" >Back-end communication<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Nvidia_competing_with_Arista_and_Cisco\" >Nvidia, competing with Arista and Cisco<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Nvidia_is_eating_into_Arista_and_Ciscos_market\" >Nvidia is eating into Arista and Cisco\u2019s market<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Arista\" >Arista<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Cisco\" >Cisco<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/#Related_articles\" >Related articles<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Nvidias_new_product_line\"><\/span>Nvidia&#8217;s new product line<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Rumors_confirmed\"><\/span>Rumors confirmed<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I have introduced Nvidia&#8217;s ambition to enter the communications switch market in my post of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2024\/09\/04\/nvidias-new-business\/#google_vignette\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nvidia&#8217;s new business set to grow its share price<\/a>&#8220;. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globenewswire.com\/news-release\/2025\/03\/18\/3044903\/0\/en\/NVIDIA-Announces-Spectrum-X-Photonics-Co-Packaged-Optics-Networking-Switches-to-Scale-AI-Factories-to-Millions-of-GPUs.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">At the 2025 GTC conference, Huang Renxun announced Spectrum-X and Quantum-X silicon photonics CPO switches in his keynote speech<\/a>. For what is silicon photonics CPO, please refer to my post of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2024\/09\/06\/what-are-silicon-photonics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">What are silicon photonics? Why it&#8217;s important? and current progress<\/a>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now it is proved that the market rumors are not groundless. This article intends to introduce Spectrum-X, Nvidia&#8217;s new product line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Product_Introduction\"><\/span>Product Introduction<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Spectrum-X and Quantum-X silicon photonics CPO switches, these two products support 144\u00d7800G (to be launched in the second half of 2025) and 512\u00d7800G (to be launched in the second half of 2026) configurations, aiming to meet the urgent needs of AI supercomputing for high bandwidth and low power consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Spectrum-X_Photonics_Ethernet_switch\"><\/span>Spectrum-X Photonics Ethernet switch<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Spectrum-X Photonics: Ethernet switch, providing up to 512 800Gb\/s ports or 2,048 200Gb\/s ports, with a total throughput of up to 400Tbps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Quantum-X_Photonics_InfiniBand_switch\"><\/span>Quantum-X Photonics InfiniBand switch<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Quantum-X Photonics: InfiniBand switch, providing 144 800Gb\/s ports based on 200Gb\/s SerDes, with a total throughput of 115.2Tbps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Field_of_competition\"><\/span>Field of competition<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Nvidia released Spectrum-X and Quantum-X silicon photonic switches, and its main market currently targeted is back-end communication, that is, the exchange of massive data in data centers, rather than front-end communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Home_customer_communication\"><\/span>Home customer communication<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There are many manufacturers involved in front-end communication, and the entry threshold is relatively low. The first is the communication devices that are generally used at home, such as Taiwan&#8217;s D-Link, Accton, or China&#8217;s TP-Link. TP-Link is the world&#8217;s largest supplier, with a market share of more than 2\/3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Corporate_network_communication\"><\/span>Corporate network communication<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The second type is to target the general enterprise environment and data transmission in the work scene. The main players in this part are HPE, Huawei, IBM, Arista and Cisco. A large part of their business focuses on customers in general companies, offices, and institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Back-end_communication\"><\/span>Back-end communication<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Back-end communication targets cloud centers, server rooms, AI data centers, telecommunications companies, etc. The data transmission needs of this type of customers are very large, facing user connections and data transmission from all over the world, which is far beyond the reach of enterprise-level customer networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nvidia&#8217;s release of Spectrum-X and Quantum-X silicon photonic switch business targets this small number of super-large customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Nvidia_competing_with_Arista_and_Cisco\"><\/span>Nvidia, competing with Arista and Cisco<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Nvidia_is_eating_into_Arista_and_Ciscos_market\"><\/span>Nvidia is eating into Arista and Cisco\u2019s market<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Nvidia launched its Spectrum-X Ethernet switch in mid-2023. In its Q1 2025 earnings call, Nvidia said it had added Alphabet\u2019s Google Cloud and Meta to its Spectrum-X customer list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arista, in particular, is the biggest competitor Nvidia wants to beat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Arista\"><\/span>Arista<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the news from Nvidia, it doesn\u2019t necessarily spell doom for Nvidia. Microsoft Azure is already a Spectrum-X customer, and Arista\u2019s revenue growth hasn\u2019t slowed. This suggests that revenue from Meta could remain strong. Still, Nvidia is undoubtedly a growing competitive threat to Arista. This competition could reduce margins and limit growth prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Nvidia\u2019s move into Ethernet is a huge validation of Nvidia\u2019s technology. Nvidia has traditionally focused on another networking technology called InfiniBand. In recent years, there has been much debate over whether InfiniBand or Ethernet will become the preferred network solution for AI data centers. The launch and success of Nvidia\u2019s Spectrum-X further confirms the view that the balance of power is tilting towards Ethernet. From a macro perspective, this is good for Arista. Despite Nvidia\u2019s entry, the company\u2019s growth will still benefit as the Ethernet market expands. It is worth noting that Citi analysts generally agree with this view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arista is not without powerful allies. The company uses Broadcom\u2019s Tomahawk chips in its switches. Broadcom has just started shipping the Tomahawk 6 chip. It has twice the bandwidth of any Ethernet switch chip currently on the market, which puts Arista in a favorable position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Arista, please refer to my post of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2024\/07\/28\/how-arista-makes-money\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How Arista, the nemesis of Cisco\u2019s monopoly, makes money?<\/a>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Cisco\"><\/span>Cisco<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Cisco will combine Nvidia\u2019s Spectrum-X equipment with Cisco OS system software, which is equivalent to entering Nvidia\u2019s supply chain and establishing a business partner relationship with Nvidia that is both a friend and an enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please see my post of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/18\/cisco-ex-largest-company\/\">Cisco, ex-biggest company, the representative of dot-com bubble<\/a>&#8221; for Cisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"121\" height=\"90\" src=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/spectrum-Custom.jpg\" alt=\"Spectrum-X and Quantum-X\n\" class=\"wp-image-36950\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Related_articles\"><\/span>Related articles<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/05\/20\/cpo-optical-transmission\/\">CPO Optical Transmission inevitable is changing data transmission<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/03\/23\/tsmc-ceo-appalling-remarks\/\">&#8220;TSMC CEO appalling remarks on Chinese robots, inferiority to nVidia Huang<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/10\/14\/nvidia-investment-empire\/\">Portfolio of Nvidia investment empire <\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/07\/06\/the-thinking-machine\/\">A must-read for Nvidia investors\uff02The Thinking Machine\uff02<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/08\/24\/ai-inference-chips\/\">AI inference chips vs. training chips<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/10\/spectrum-x-and-quantum-x\/\">Spectrum-X and Quantum-X switches, Nvidia&#8217;s new territory<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/18\/cisco-ex-largest-company\/\">Cisco, ex-biggest company, the representative of dot-com bubble<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2024\/09\/06\/what-are-silicon-photonics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">What are silicon photonics? Why it&#8217;s important? and current progress<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2024\/07\/28\/how-arista-makes-money\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How Arista, the nemesis of Cisco\u2019s monopoly, makes money?<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2024\/09\/04\/nvidias-new-business\/#google_vignette\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nvidia&#8217;s new business set to grow its share price<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/06\/24\/nvidia-changes-gaming-rules\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How does nVidia make money, Nvidia is changing the gaming rules<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2023\/12\/11\/nvidias-monopoly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The reasons for Nvidia\u2019s monopoly and the challenges it faces<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2022\/01\/29\/arm-acquired-by-nvidia\/\">Why nVidia failed to acquire ARM?<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2023\/07\/02\/revisiting-nvidia\/\">Revisiting Nvidia: The Absolute Leader in Artificial Intelligence, Data Center, and Graphics<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Disclaimer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The content of this site is the author\u2019s personal opinions and is for reference only. I am not responsible for the correctness, opinions, and immediacy of the content and information of the article. Readers must make their own judgments.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>I shall not be liable for any damages or other legal liabilities for the direct or indirect losses caused by the readers&#8217; direct or indirect reliance on and reference to the information on this site, or all the responsibilities arising therefrom, as a result of any investment behavior.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spectrum-X and Quantum-X silicon photonic switches, targeting back-end communication, that is, the exchange of massive data in data centers, rather than front-end communication<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[454,1305,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-diversified-conglomerate-group","category-semiconductor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36947"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42336,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36947\/revisions\/42336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}