Cisco bets optics will replace copper in AI racks

Cisco is pushing to replace copper interconnects inside AI racks with optical alternatives, arguing copper cannot sustain the signaling speeds required by modern AI infrastructure. Senior VP Rakesh Chopra said in-rack copper is not a durable long-term solution and predicted optical will become the norm within a handful of years, enabling scale-up domains to expand from a single rack to row-scale or beyond. Cisco and Nvidia are co-developing USFP, an optical module supporting 400 gigabits per lane, roughly four times denser than current OSFP 1.6T modules and 1.3 times more power-efficient.