Broadcom launches Thor Ultra 800G AI Ethernet card for next-gen data centers

ByEnigma 808

Broadcom has unveiled the Thor Ultra, the world’s first 800G AI Ethernet network card, designed to meet the immense data needs of next-generation AI systems. Announced on October 14, 2025, the Thor Ultra supports the Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC) standard, enabling connectivity across hundreds of thousands of XPUs like GPUs and AI accelerators for handling terabyte-scale AI workloads in large computing clusters.

The card is built on RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) and includes innovations like packet-level multipathing, direct out-of-order packet delivery to XPU memory, and programmable congestion control. It uses a PCIe Gen6 ×16 interface for massive throughput and comes in two form factors: a standard PCIe add-in card and an OCP 3.0 version. The card also supports long-distance passive copper cables, enhancing cost and energy efficiency for large-scale deployments. Thor Ultra aims to make Ethernet a viable alternative to proprietary AI interconnect technologies.

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    Besides writing and being a content creator, Enigma 808 sometimes likes to watch paint dry on walls, listening to ASMR while timing snails racing. Such is life.