Both technologies will likely find a role in future AI and optical networks, experts say, as both promise to reduce power consumption and support improved bandwidth density. Both have advantages and disadvantages as well – CPOs are more complex to deploy given the amount of technology included in a CPO package, whereas LPOs promise more simplicity.  Bechtolsheim said that LPO can provide an additional 20% power savings over other optical forms. Early tests show good receiver performance even under degraded conditions, though transmit paths remain sensitive to reflections and crosstalk at the connector level, Bechtolsheim added. At the recent Hot Interconnects conference, he said: “The path to energy-efficient optics is constrained by high-volume manufacturing,” stressing that advanced optics packaging remains difficult and risky without proven production scale.  “We are nonreligious about CPO, LPO, whatever it is. But we are religious about one thing, which is the ability to ship very high volumes in a very predictable fashion,” Bechtolsheim said at the investor event. “So, to put this in quantity numbers here, the industry expects to ship something like 50 million OSFP modules next calendar year. The current shipment rate of CPO is zero, okay? So going from zero to 50 million is just not possible. The supply chain doesn’t exist. So, even if the technology works and can be demonstrated in a lab, to get to the volume required to meet the needs of the industry is just an incredible effort.” “We’re all in on liquid cooling to reduce power, eliminating fan power, supporting the linear pluggable optics to reduce power and cost, increasing rack density, which reduces data center footprint and related costs, and most importantly, optimizing these fabrics for the AI data center use case,” Bechtolsheim added. “So what we call the ‘purpose-built AI data center fabric’ around Ethernet

The chain analogy is critical here. Realistic uses of AI agents will require core database access; what can possibly make an AI business case that isn’t tied to a company’s critical data? The four critical elements of these applications—the agent, the MCP server, the tools, and the data— are all dragged along with each other, and traffic on the network is the linkage in the chain. How much traffic is generated? Here, enterprises had another surprise. Enterprises told me that their initial view of their AI hosting was an “AI cluster” with a casual data link to their main data center network. With AI agents, they now see smaller AI servers actually installed within their primary data centers, and all the traffic AI creates, within the model and to and from it, now flows on the data center network. Vendors who told enterprises that AI networking would have a profound impact are proving correct. You can run a query or perform a task with an agent and have that task parse an entire database of thousands or millions of records. Someone not aware of what an agent application implies in terms of data usage can easily create as much traffic as a whole week’s normal access-and-update would create. Enough, they say, to impact network capacity and the QoE of other applications. And, enterprises remind us, if that traffic crosses in/out of the cloud, the cloud costs could skyrocket. About a third of the enterprises said that issues with AI agents generated enough traffic to create local congestion on the network or a blip in cloud costs large enough to trigger a financial review. MCP tool use by agents is also a major security and governance headache. Enterprises point out that MCP standards haven’t always required strong authentication, and they also

The US currently leads in AI hardware and software, but China’s DeepSeek and Huawei continue to push advanced chips, India has announced an indigenous GPU program targeting production by 2029, and policy shifts in Washington are reshaping the playing field. In Q2, the rollback of export restrictions allowed US companies like Nvidia and AMD to strike multibillion-dollar deals in Saudi Arabia.  JPR categorizes vendors into five segments: IoT (ultra-low-power inference in microcontrollers or small SoCs); Edge (on-device or near-device inference in 1–100W range, used outside data centers); Automotive (distinct enough to break out from Edge); data center training; and data center inference. There is some overlap between segments as many vendors play in multiple segments. Of the five categories, inference has the most startups with 90. Peddie says the inference application list is “humongous,” with everything from wearable health monitors to smart vehicle sensor arrays, to personal items in the home, and every imaginable machine in every imaginable manufacturing and production line, plus robotic box movers and surgeons.  Inference also offers the most versatility. “Smart devices” in the past, like washing machines or coffee makers, could do basically one thing and couldn’t adapt to any changes. “Inference-based systems will be able to duck and weave, adjust in real time, and find alternative solutions, quickly,” said Peddie. Peddie said despite his apparent cynicism, this is an exciting time. “There are really novel ideas being tried like analog neuron processors, and in-memory processors,” he said.

Each month Data Center Frontier, in partnership with Pkaza, posts some of the hottest data center career opportunities in the market. Here’s a look at some of the latest data center jobs posted on the Data Center Frontier jobs board, powered by Pkaza Critical Facilities Recruiting. Looking for Data Center Candidates? Check out Pkaza’s Active Candidate / Featured Candidate Hotlist (and coming soon free Data Center Intern listing). Data Center Critical Facility Manager Impact, TX There position is also available in: Cheyenne, WY; Ashburn, VA or Manassas, VA. This opportunity is working directly with a leading mission-critical data center developer / wholesaler / colo provider. This firm provides data center solutions custom-fit to the requirements of their client’s mission-critical operational facilities. They provide reliability of mission-critical facilities for many of the world’s largest organizations (enterprise and hyperscale customers). This career-growth minded opportunity offers exciting projects with leading-edge technology and innovation as well as competitive salaries and benefits. Electrical Commissioning Engineer New Albany, OH This traveling position is also available in: Richmond, VA; Ashburn, VA; Charlotte, NC; Atlanta, GA; Hampton, GA; Fayetteville, GA; Cedar Rapids, IA; Phoenix, AZ; Dallas, TX or Chicago, IL. *** ALSO looking for a LEAD EE and ME CxA Agents and CxA PMs. *** Our client is an engineering design and commissioning company that has a national footprint and specializes in MEP critical facilities design. They provide design, commissioning, consulting and management expertise in the critical facilities space. They have a mindset to provide reliability, energy efficiency, sustainable design and LEED expertise when providing these consulting services for enterprise, colocation and hyperscale companies. This career-growth minded opportunity offers exciting projects with leading-edge technology and innovation as well as competitive salaries and benefits.  Data Center Engineering Design ManagerAshburn, VA This opportunity is working directly with a leading mission-critical data center developer /

As artificial intelligence workloads drive unprecedented compute density, the U.S. data center industry faces a formidable challenge: modernizing aging facilities that were never designed to support today’s high-density AI servers. In a recent Data Center Frontier podcast, Steven Carlini, Vice President of Innovation and Data Centers at Schneider Electric, shared his insights on how operators are confronting these transformative pressures. “Many of these data centers were built with the expectation they would go through three, four, five IT refresh cycles,” Carlini explains. “Back then, growth in rack density was moderate. Facilities were designed for 10, 12 kilowatts per rack. Now with systems like Nvidia’s Blackwell, we’re seeing 132 kilowatts per rack, and each rack can weigh 5,000 pounds.” The implications are seismic. Legacy racks, floor layouts, power distribution systems, and cooling infrastructure were simply not engineered for such extreme densities. “With densification, a lot of the power distribution, cooling systems, even the rack systems — the new servers don’t fit in those racks. You need more room behind the racks for power and cooling. Almost everything needs to be changed,” Carlini notes. For operators, the first questions are inevitably about power availability. At 132 kilowatts per rack, even a single cluster can challenge the limits of older infrastructure. Many facilities are conducting rigorous evaluations to decide whether retrofitting is feasible or whether building new sites is the more practical solution. Carlini adds, “You may have transformers spaced every hundred yards, twenty of them. Now, one larger transformer can replace that footprint, and power distribution units feed busways that supply each accelerated compute rack. The scale and complexity are unlike anything we’ve seen before.” Safety considerations also intensify with these densifications. “At 132 kilowatts, maintenance is still feasible,” Carlini says, “but as voltages rise, data centers are moving toward environments where

Inside the Hermes Reactor Design Kairos Power’s Hermes reactor is based on its KP-FHR architecture — short for fluoride salt–cooled, high-temperature reactor. Unlike conventional water-cooled reactors, Hermes uses a molten salt mixture called FLiBe (lithium fluoride and beryllium fluoride) as a coolant. Because FLiBe operates at atmospheric pressure, the design eliminates the risk of high-pressure ruptures and allows for inherently safer operation. Fuel for Hermes comes in the form of TRISO particles rather than traditional enriched uranium fuel rods. Each TRISO particle is encapsulated within ceramic layers that function like miniature containment vessels. These particles can withstand temperatures above 1,600 °C — far beyond the reactor’s normal operating range of about 700 °C. In combination with the salt coolant, Hermes achieves outlet temperatures between 650–750 °C, enabling efficient power generation and potential industrial applications such as hydrogen production. Because the salt coolant is chemically stable and requires no pressurization, the reactor can shut down and dissipate heat passively, without external power or operator intervention. This passive safety profile differentiates Hermes from traditional light-water reactors and reflects the Generation IV industry focus on safer, modular designs. From Hermes-1 to Hermes-2: Iterative Nuclear Development The first step in Kairos’ roadmap is Hermes-1, a 35 MW thermal demonstration reactor now under construction at TVA’s Clinch River site under a 2023 NRC license. Hermes-1 is not designed to generate electricity but will validate reactor physics, fuel handling, licensing strategies, and construction techniques. Building on that experience, Hermes-2 will be a 50 MW electric reactor connected to TVA’s grid, with operations targeted for 2030. Under the agreement, TVA will purchase electricity from Hermes-2 and supply it to Google’s data centers in Tennessee and Alabama. Kairos describes its development philosophy as “iterative,” scaling incrementally rather than attempting to deploy large fleets of units at once. By