Astera Labs Optimizes Connectivity for NVIDIA Blackwell-Based MGX Platforms at Scale

Rhea-AI Summary

Astera Labs (Nasdaq: ALAB) announced its Scorpio Smart Fabric Switches for PCIe® 6-ready NVIDIA Blackwell-based MGX™ platforms, delivering modular designs that scale across different NVIDIA MGX configurations. The company is providing customers with an accelerated test and interop development kit, including whitepapers, reference designs, SDKs, and simulation models.

The integration enables:

• Optimized data ingest for NVIDIA Blackwell units
• Increased GPU utilization with high-performance data flows
• Robust interoperability with PCIe 6 and PCIe 5 partners
• Proven line-rate PCIe 6 performance with Micron SSDs
• Faster time-to-market with modular configuration

Additionally, Astera Labs' COSMOS rack-scale management software provides data center observability, telemetry, and diagnostics capabilities for maximizing GPU utilization and uptime. The company will demonstrate the PCIe 6-ready NVIDIA MGX platform featuring Scorpio P-Series at NVIDIA GTC 2025.

Positive

• First-to-market with PCIe 6 fabric switch technology
• Strategic partnership with NVIDIA for next-generation AI infrastructure
• Proven interoperability with major hardware partners
• Enhanced management capabilities through COSMOS software suite

Negative

• None.

Insights

Financial Analyst

Astera Labs' integration with NVIDIA's Blackwell-based MGX platform represents a significant strategic positioning that strengthens the company's competitive stance in the critical AI infrastructure supply chain. By enabling PCIe 6-ready modular designs for NVIDIA's next-generation AI systems, Astera gains valuable market alignment with the industry leader driving AI acceleration.

The announcement features multiple implementation benefits including increased GPU utilization, improved energy efficiency, and faster time-to-market - all addressing key pain points in rapidly scaling AI infrastructure. The endorsements from NVIDIA's VP of hardware engineering and Wistron (a major server manufacturer) provide credible third-party validation of Astera's technology value proposition.

Particularly notable is Astera's COSMOS rack-scale management software, which extends beyond hardware to provide data center observability and diagnostics critical for maximizing GPU utilization and uptime. This demonstrates a solutions-oriented approach rather than merely component sales.

While the announcement doesn't quantify potential revenue impact, Astera's reference to "millions of deployed devices" suggests established market penetration. The development kit availability for "key customers and partners" indicates near-term implementation potential rather than conceptual technology. For investors, this partnership reinforces Astera's strategic positioning in the high-growth AI infrastructure segment with the market's dominant platform provider.

Technology Analyst

Astera Labs' PCIe 6-ready Scorpio Smart Fabric Switches represent a critical enabler for NVIDIA's Blackwell architecture, addressing fundamental connectivity challenges in high-performance AI systems. The technical significance cannot be overstated - as AI models grow exponentially, the data throughput bottlenecks between GPUs, memory, and storage become determining factors in system performance.

The PCIe 6.0 standard doubles the bandwidth of PCIe 5.0 to 64 GT/s, with Astera's technology enabling this next-generation interconnect on NVIDIA's modular MGX platform. Their purpose-built Smart Fabric topology optimizes data ingest for each Blackwell unit while ensuring predictable, secure high-performance data flows - directly addressing reliability concerns at scale.

Particularly impressive is Astera's comprehensive ecosystem approach, including whitepapers, reference designs, SDKs, simulation models, and interoperability testing. The proven line-rate PCIe 6 performance with Micron SSDs confirms real-world implementation readiness rather than theoretical capabilities.

The COSMOS rack-scale management software adds significant technical value by providing lane-level visibility and diagnostics - essential for debugging and optimizing complex AI clusters. This fleet management capability becomes increasingly valuable as AI deployments scale from individual servers to entire data centers.

Seamless Scorpio Smart Fabric Switch integration with NVIDIA MGX™ platform delivers PCIe® 6-ready modular designs for rapid deployment across a range of AI servers

SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Astera Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALAB), a global leader in semiconductor-based connectivity solutions for AI and cloud infrastructure, today announced its Scorpio Smart Fabric Switches for PCIe^® 6-ready NVIDIA Blackwell-based MGX™ platforms will deliver leading performance through a modular design that scales across different NVIDIA MGX configurations. Additionally, Astera Labs empowers customers to perform in-house testing through its accelerated test and interop development kit, featuring whitepapers, reference designs, comprehensive SDKs, simulation models, and extensive interoperability and performance testing in the Cloud-Scale Interop Lab.

Mike Hendricks, Associate VP, Solutions and Ecosystem, Astera Labs, said, “As AI infrastructure rapidly evolves, the need for flexible server platforms that can be deployed at unprecedented pace and scale has never been greater. Our Scorpio P-Series Fabric Switch is purpose-built for AI servers and seamlessly integrates with the NVIDIA Blackwell-based MGX platform, enabling modular PCIe 6.x-ready designs that accelerate time-to-market and deliver unparalleled performance for next-generation AI systems.”

Patrick Moorhead, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Analyst, Moor Insights & Strategy, said, “The NVIDIA Blackwell architecture and MGX platform will power most next-generation data centers being deployed in the near-future, designed to deliver ground-breaking performance, flexibility, and scalability. To fully harness these capabilities, seamless and modular connectivity solutions are essential. I believe Astera Labs is leading the charge in modular connectivity to harness these capabilities with its Scorpio Smart Fabric Switches, which should enable the rapid deployment of custom systems that hyperscalers require to meet the escalating demands of AI workloads.”

Comprehensive design-in collateral is available today for customers to integrate Scorpio P-Series – the industry’s first PCIe 6 fabric switch – and Aries PCIe/CXL^® Smart DSP Retimers into their MGX platform design. The NVIDIA MGX platform enables manufacturers to quickly build customizable, efficient AI, HPC, and cloud servers by integrating key NVIDIA components, reducing development time and cost, while supporting diverse use cases. This unlocks the following benefits:

• Optimized data ingest for each NVIDIA Blackwell unit in the MGX platform
• Increased GPU utilization with predictable, secure, and high-performance data flows
• Robust interoperability and line-rate with a diverse ecosystem of PCIe 6 and PCIe 5 host and endpoint partners validated in the Cloud-Scale Interop Lab
• Proven line-rate PCIe 6 performance with Micron PCIe 6 SSDs and other interop partners
• Faster time-to-market and lower development cost with a modular switch configuration
• Improved energy efficiency with maximum performance per watt
• Future-proofed switch boards for seamless transition to PCIe 6 data rates
  

Enhanced Rack-Level Management with Visibility Down to the PCIe Lane-Level with COSMOS
When scaling the NVIDIA MGX platform into rack-level solutions, Astera Labs’ COSMOS rack-scale management software provides extensive data center observability, telemetry, and diagnostics, which are critical to maximizing GPU utilization and uptime. Built on a foundation of millions of deployed devices in AI and cloud infrastructure, the COSMOS software suite unlocks unprecedented data link visibility, enhanced security, and extensive fleet management capabilities when combining Scorpio Smart Fabric Switches with Aries Smart DSP Retimers.

Andrew Bell, vice president of hardware engineering at NVIDIA said, “NVIDIA Blackwell architecture is revolutionizing AI infrastructure with its unparalleled performance and scalability. Astera Labs' PCIe 6-ready Scorpio P-Series integrates with the NVIDIA Blackwell-based MGX platform to enable modular designs that accelerate deployment and enhance efficiency for next-generation AI systems."

Robert Lin, President, Enterprise & Networking Business Group, Wistron, said, “Wistron and Astera Labs have long collaborated to enable our advanced AI and HPC servers with their purpose-built PCIe, CXL^®, and Ethernet connectivity solutions. We are proud to have teamed up on an NVIDIA MGX platform design that has been optimized to meet the specific demands of AI infrastructure with Scorpio P-Series, unlocking robust performance and reliability for deployments at cloud-scale.”

Astera Labs’ accelerated test and interop development kit for the NVIDIA MGX platform is available upon request for key customers and partners.

Visit Astera Labs at NVIDIA GTC 2025, March 18-21, San Jose Convention Center
Astera Labs will demonstrate the PCIe 6-ready NVIDIA MGX platform featuring Scorpio P-Series as well as robust NVIDIA Blackwell interoperability in Booth 1137. Schedule to meet with Astera Labs experts and learn how its solutions enable critical connectivity for AI and cloud infrastructure.

Resources

• Webpage: Scorpio Smart Fabric Switches
• Webpage: Cloud-Scale Interop Lab
• Whitepaper: Migrating AI Server Designs to a Modular Scorpio Architecture
• Whitepaper: How Your Hyperscale Data Center Can Overcome the Challenges of Next-Gen AI Infrastructure with Smart Fabric Switches
• Video: Scorpio P-Series with NVIDIA MGX Platform Demo

About Astera Labs
Astera Labs is a global leader in purpose-built connectivity solutions that unlock the full potential of AI and cloud infrastructure. Our Intelligent Connectivity Platform integrates PCIe^®, CXL^®, and Ethernet semiconductor-based solutions and the COSMOS software suite of system management and optimization tools to deliver a software-defined architecture that is both scalable and customizable. Inspired by trusted relationships with hyperscalers and the data center ecosystem, we are an innovation leader delivering products that are flexible and interoperable. Discover how we are transforming modern data-driven applications at www.asteralabs.com.

© Astera Labs, Inc.  Astera Labs, and its stylized logo, are trademarks of Astera Labs, Inc. or its affiliates. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

CONTACT: Lori Zielinski
lori.zielinski@asteralabs.com

FAQ

What are the key features of Astera Labs' (ALAB) Scorpio Smart Fabric Switches for NVIDIA MGX platforms?

The switches offer PCIe 6-ready modular designs, optimized data ingest, increased GPU utilization, robust interoperability, and faster time-to-market through modular configuration.

How does Astera Labs' (ALAB) COSMOS software enhance the NVIDIA MGX platform?

COSMOS provides rack-scale management with data center observability, telemetry, and diagnostics capabilities for maximizing GPU utilization and uptime.

What development resources does Astera Labs (ALAB) provide for MGX platform integration?

They offer an accelerated test and interop kit including whitepapers, reference designs, SDKs, simulation models, and Cloud-Scale Interop Lab testing.

When and where will Astera Labs (ALAB) demonstrate the PCIe 6-ready NVIDIA MGX platform?

The demonstration will take place at NVIDIA GTC 2025, March 18-21, at the San Jose Convention Center, Booth 1137.