Nvidia might have to look outside of its artificial intelligence empire to acquire some key data center-related technologies, according to Susquehanna Financial Group. Analyst Christopher Rolland said Nvidia has "two glaring holes" for potential acquisition within optical and analog networking. "As NVIDIA attempts to further solidify its lead in both systems and networking, we believe it may increasingly look to insource or acquire optical and/or analog interconnect technologies, companies, or divisions," Rolland said in a Thursday note to clients.
"As GPU clusters scale linearly, the need for interconnections grows exponentially." Optical technologies in data centers have a variety of purposes such as supporting network traffic growth, transmitting and receiving optical signals in data centers, and offering cost and power savings while facilitating high-capacity data transmission. Given the growth in cost and importance of these technologies, the analyst expects Nvidia to consider insourcing or acquiring companies that have leading products in linear equalizers, laser drivers, photonic integrated chip technology and digital signal processors, among other areas.
Optical and photonic products manufacturer Lumentum Holdings , engineered materials and optoelectronic components maker Coherent and semiconductor producer Marvell Technology are among several names Rolland listed as potential candidates for an Nvidia acquisition. To be sure, the chipmaker has not said it is actively .
