Broadcom Unveils Thor Ultra Chip, Heating Up Competition with Nvidia
On Tuesday, Broadcom is going to announce a new networking chip that is meant to aid businesses in the construction of artificial intelligence computer systems. This chip will connect hundreds of thousands of processors that process data, which will strengthen Broadcom’s fight with Nvidia. The device, which is known as the Thor Ultra, gives operators of computer infrastructure the ability to deploy a substantially greater number of chips than was previously conceivable. This makes it easier to create and run the substantial models that are responsible for artificial intelligence applications such as ChatGPT. In an effort to consolidate Broadcom’s supremacy in network communications within data centers that are specifically designed for artificial intelligence applications, the Thor Ultra is going to compete with the networking interface chips that Nvidia has developed. At the same time that Broadcom made its statement on Monday, the firm said that it had entered into an agreement to supply OpenAI, the company that developed ChatGPT, with 10 gigawatts of bespoke chips beginning in the later half of 2026. The move presents a challenge to Nvidia’s position as the dominant player in the market for AI accelerators.
For Broadcom, artificial intelligence represents a big potential. According to statements made by Hock Tan before the end of the previous year, the market that the firm is targeting for its different artificial intelligence chips is anticipated to reach between $60 billion and $90 billion by the year 2027. This market is divided into two categories: networking chips and data center processors that the company supports Alphabet’s Google and OpenAI in developing. AI revenue for the fiscal year 2024 was announced by Broadcom to be $12.2 billion. In September, it disclosed that it had acquired a new customer for its bespoke artificial intelligence chips for data centers, who had made a significant investment of ten billion dollars. It is a crucial connection between an artificial intelligence system and the larger data center, and the Thor Ultra chip, which is a key addition to Broadcom’s increasing portfolio of networking chips, serves in this capacity. In order to facilitate the effective movement of information inside a facility, the networking chips provide assistance to the operators of data centers. “In the distributed computing system, network plays an extremely important role in building these large clusters,” Ram Velaga said in an interview. “It doesn’t surprise me that anyone involved in the GPU industry is eager to ensure their participation in networking.”
Despite the fact that networking chips are an essential component of the company’s overall strategy, the artificial intelligence chips that Broadcom produces for large cloud computing companies like Google are extremely lucrative. A project that Google began more than 10 years ago, the Tensor processor, has been the subject of collaboration between Broadcom and Google on a number of different versions. According to estimates provided by analysts, the income that Broadcom has made from the Tensor chips has been in the billions of dollars. Broadcom executives provided an overview of the procedures that are utilized in the process of constructing and evaluating new networking processors during a visit of the company’s network chip-testing facilities in San Jose in September. These labs are dedicated to the development of both existing and forthcoming designs of networking chips. With the intention of achieving this objective, the developers at Broadcom have increased the bandwidth of Thor Ultra by a factor of two in compared to the predecessor. An exhaustive testing and assessment process was carried out on the chips from the very beginning of the production process.
In order to make a device such as the Thor Ultra or the flagship line of Tomahawk networking switches, engineers build a full system that revolves around the chip. According to Velaga, the engineers will engage in conversation with the team responsible for the hardware system in order to discuss the sort of packaging that the chip will use, the amount of power that it will use, and the amount of heat that it will produce. Broadcom is not in the business of selling servers directly; rather, it offers designs for components and systems that it produces for the purpose of testing. To provide its clients with a point of reference around which they may construct their networking infrastructure, this strategy is utilized. “For every dollar we invest in our silicon, there is at least $6 to $10 that our ecosystem partners are investing,” Velaga said. “A significant portion of our attention is directed towards design, as if we are nearing the point of taking it to production.”
