Huawei's Atlas 960E superpod links 4,096 NPUs with near-packaged optics
bookwormengr · x · 2026-10-19
At Huawei Connect 2026, Huawei unveiled the Atlas 960E superpod, using near-packaged optics (NPO) to link up to 4,096 NPUs and tackle the power/bandwidth cost of moving data between AI accelerators:
- 8 exaflops at FP8 per system, up to 1 PB of high-bandwidth memory.
- Combines UnifiedBus interconnect with the Hi-ONE optical node engine (7.2 Tbps), claimed as the industry's first mass-production-ready NPO engine with an integrated light source.
- 5,500 engines replace 48,000 conventional 800G optical modules, cutting power by over 550 kW; claims 2x fault-free operating time and 99.8% availability.
- Huawei also proposed an NPO implementation agreement to the OIF.
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