Cisco Expands AI Infrastructure with New Silicon and Nvidia Partnership

• •Cisco unveiled new Silicon One chips aimed at enhancing AI infrastructure.
• •The partnership with Nvidia focuses on developing a new open optics standard for AI.
• •Cisco is expanding support for the SONiC network operating system across its hardware.

At the OCP Global Summit 2026, Cisco announced the launch of new Silicon One chips and systems, enhancing support for the open-source SONiC network operating system. The new Silicon One G300 and G302 chips are designed for large-scale AI deployments, offering features like Intelligent Collective Networking. Cisco's collaboration with Nvidia aims to develop an open optics standard, the Ultra-Dense Small Form Factor Pluggable (USFP), which will significantly increase bandwidth density for AI infrastructure. The USFP is expected to support 400 Gbps per lane optics, providing four times the bandwidth density of current alternatives. Cisco's initiatives focus on delivering an open, programmable stack that spans from silicon to Kubernetes for various customers, including hyperscalers and enterprises. The company is also extending its Silicon One architecture to management switches with new Cisco 8001 systems running SONiC.