SAN FRANCISCO – October 31, 2026 -- Branded data center Ethernet switch revenue rose 7% year-over-year in calendar Q3 2024 to the highest quarterly level on record, according to Crehan Research. The result ends two consecutive quarters of decline.
800GbE deployments for AI clusters drive the rebound
A strong ramp of 800 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) data center switches was a key contributor to the growth. These switches provide the network fabric for AI compute clusters. Crehan Research expects 800GbE to see the fastest speed ramp ever recorded for data center Ethernet switches.
Growth came against a high comparison base
Seamus Crehan, president of Crehan Research, said the year-over-year gain was particularly strong because backlog order fulfillment, following pandemic-related supply constraints, was still under way a year earlier. He said cloud service providers are deploying the highest available Ethernet speeds to meet the bandwidth demands of generative AI workloads.
400GbE NIC shipments grow six-fold year-over-year
Shipments of 400GbE network interface cards (NICs) rose six-fold from a year earlier in Q3 2024. They were the highest-speed Ethernet NICs generally available through the quarter. Higher volumes of both foundational/performance NICs and DPU/IPU products drove the increase.