Nvidia and Cisco are introducing a new optical module designed to support the networking needs of growing artificial-intelligence infrastructure.

The two companies on Monday announced the Ultra-Dense Small Form Factor Pluggable, a product they described as the first optical module to support electric signals of 400 gigabits per second per lane rather than 200.

The USFP can deliver four times the bandwidth density and 1.3 times the power efficiency of the previous generation of optical modules, the companies said. The initial USFP-based transceivers will have 16 full-duplex lanes, with the ability to expand to 32 or more lanes in the future.

"Cisco and NVIDIA recognized that scaling pluggable optics to 400Gb/s per lane would require more than another incremental extension of today's module designs," said Bill Gartner, Cisco's general manager of optical systems and optics. "Through our collaboration, USFP is designed to deliver a new level of bandwidth density while preserving the serviceability, deployment flexibility and operational simplicity of pluggable optics."

The companies are working with Amphenol and TE Connectivity to build a broader technological ecosystem around USFP. They also said they plan to create an open industry specification for the new product.