Bernstein's 97-Page Report Decoded: The Battle for AI Data Center Connectivity, Who Will Be the True Winner by 2026?
Bernstein's 97-page report analyzes the AI data center connectivity landscape. It argues that the bottleneck is shifting from raw compute (GPU) to the systems connecting GPUs, crucial for cluster efficiency. Copper and optical interconnects are not in a simple replacement cycle but will coexist long-term, with copper dominating short-distance "scale-up" connections and optics favored for longer "scale-out" scenarios.
While Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) is the long-term direction for power and cost savings, its widespread adoption faces manufacturing and reliability hurdles, with mass deployment unlikely before 2028. Transitional technologies like Linear Pluggable Optics (LPO) and Near-Packaged Optics (NPO) are seen as near-term leaders.
A key insight is that CPO will fundamentally reshape the value chain, shifting profits from traditional optical module suppliers towards chip designers (e.g., NVIDIA, Broadcom), advanced packaging (e.g., TSMC), and system integrators.
For 2026, the report highlights more immediate and certain investment opportunities in the essential "infrastructure" enabling this connectivity shift. This includes upgrades for PCBs, ABF substrates, and CCLa driven by new AI server/switch platforms, alongside demand for 1.6T optical modules, LPO/NPO, and the testing/validation equipment required for future CPO scale-up.
marsbit05/19 03:16