MaxLinear, Inc. announced the development of its fourth generation 200G/lane PAM4 SERDES (Serializer/Deserializer) and DSP family, Rushmore. This new Samsung Foundry leading-edge-CMOS-based family delivers a significant leap in performance, power efficiency and density, enabling data center operators and cloud providers to address rapidly increasing data traffic demand, the transition to higher speed networks, and the critical power efficiency needs of AI/ML networks. The Rushmore family encompasses a diverse array of variants tailored to meet the evolving needs of modern data centers and telecommunications networks.

This includes support for fully re-timed optical modules, half re-timed optics, and active electrical cables (AECs). Moreover, MaxLinear is introducing both 8x200G-to-8x200G re-timers and 8x100G-to-4x200G gearbox variants, providing customers with a comprehensive suite of solutions to address their specific requirements. Building on the technical and commercial success of the Keystone family of 5nm 100G/lane DSPs, Rushmore doubles the data rates and significantly reduces latency for Big Data and AI/ML applications, while simultaneously adding significant additional functionality and performance extensions.

The Rushmore family of DSP has been developed in conjunction with homegrown co-optimized SERDES to achieve overall best-in-class power and performance. AI and ML have emerged as key drivers for the growth of the global high-performance computing market, which is directly linked to the need for faster data processing and transfer for AI workloads. Training AI models can be computationally expensive and time-consuming.

Higher data rates, enabled by technologies like 200G/lane SERDES and DSPs, allow for faster data movement between processing units and memory, accelerating the training process. Similarly, faster inference speeds are crucial for real-time applications like autonomous vehicles or image recognition, requiring efficient data transfer through high-bandwidth connections. MaxLinear will be exhibiting at the Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) conference in San Diego, California, March 26-28, 2024 at booth 4501.