The relentless demand for AI is driving hyperscalers to deploy ever-increasing clusters of GPUs and custom accelerators. As these deployments scale, system architectures must evolve to balance cost, performance, power, and reliability. A critical aspect of this evolution is the high-speed signaling that connects the various components. This presentation delves into the high-speed protocols such as PCIe, CXL, UALink, Ethernet, and Ultra Ethernet – exploring their intended use cases and evaluating where these protocols are complementary or competitive. Additionally, the presentation will address the evolving Scale-Up and Scale-Out architecture, highlighting their respective protocols and interconnect solutions. Special attention will be given to the adoption of Ethernet as a problem-solving technology in AI-driven environments. Through this discussion, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the options available and justify their use in modern cloud service architectures.
