Broadcom's Tomahawk 6 Chip Doubles AI Computing Power

Broadcom Inc. (AVGO.US) has launched its Tomahawk 6 chip, marking a significant advancement in AI computing power. The chip, described as the "AI network heart," has begun shipping to key customers, including top global cloud service providers and network equipment manufacturers. Full market availability is expected by July.

The Tomahawk 6 chip is designed to address the current bottleneck in AI computing power. Most AI computations rely on NVIDIA GPUs, but their efficiency is often hindered by network transmission limitations, resulting in utilization rates below 40%. Ram Velaga, head of Broadcom's core switching business unit, compared this to high-speed traffic jams causing luxury cars to stall. In contrast, a single Tomahawk 6 chip can achieve the throughput of six previous-generation chips, with a theoretical peak of 102 Tbps, equivalent to processing 25,000 4K movies per second.

The pricing strategy reflects the chip's technological superiority. The manufacturing cost of the Tomahawk 6 is more than double that of its predecessor, and customers will pay approximately twice as much. However, specific pricing details were not disclosed, as some buyers may negotiate bulk discounts. Velaga indicated that the price per chip would be below $20,000.

While Velaga did not disclose the names of the initial customers, he mentioned that the customer base includes major cloud service providers and network companies integrating Broadcom technology into their products. Many Broadcom customers are eager to use the Tomahawk 6 to build systems with over 100,000 GPUs. Typically, one switch is needed for every 10 GPUs.

The industry is undergoing a significant transformation. With model parameters exceeding the trillion mark, global tech giants are interconnecting tens of thousands of GPUs to form supercomputers. Companies are increasing their capital expenditures, with Amazon Web Services emphasizing aggressive data center expansion. As a key supplier of network equipment, Broadcom's switching chips directly influence the efficiency of AI clusters' "blood circulation."