Nvidia just made the internet cables inside AI data centers a lot more interesting. The company’s new co-packaged optics switch, built on silicon photonics, replaces the traditional pluggable transceivers that connect GPU racks with optical components baked directly into the switch package itself.
Lambda, one of the first AI infrastructure providers to adopt the technology, showed off the Quantum-X InfiniBand Photonics Q3450-LD switch on June 1, 2026, calling it a meaningful leap for GPU throughput.
What the numbers actually say
The Quantum-X CPO switches deliver 3.5 times greater power efficiency compared to conventional designs. Network resiliency improves by a factor of 10. That second number matters enormously for large-scale AI training runs, where a single network hiccup can force expensive restarts of jobs running across thousands of GPUs.
On the power front, a standard switch consumes roughly 7 kW. The CPO version draws approximately 3.95 kW, a saving of 3.05 kW per unit.
