Nvidia introduced an Ethernet switching platform capable of moving 102.4 terabits per second, double the previous generation.
Switching is the equipment linking machines to each other inside a data centre. In a cluster with hundreds or thousands of accelerators working on the same task, the time data takes to travel between machines determines the performance of the whole, however fast each individual part is.
The announcement fits the same movement that has the major foundries racing toward co-packaged optics: traffic between processors is growing faster than traditional electrical connections can carry.
Doubling capacity in one generation is a fast pace for network equipment, and it indicates where the pressure sits. When the bottleneck moves, investment moves with it.
For operations that don't build data centres, the effect is indirect: it improves the economics of those renting capacity, and it's part of what sustains the falling cost per task seen in the period's model launches.