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Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. When I was a young professional in the 1990s, I didnt aspire to be a CEO. (I was a business journalist focused on getting more challenging editorial assignments.) And even if I had wanted to run a company, I wouldnt have known how to cobble together the necessary experiences to qualify for a CEO role. Graham Weaver, CEO and founding partner of Alpine Investors, has streamlined that process for ambitious MBAs who, unlike me, know early in their careers that they want to be CEOs. Alpine, a private equity firm with $18 billion in assets under management, offers a CEO-in-Training (CIT) program that places wannabe chief executives in senior roles at its portfolio companies. A crash course in being a CEO During their time in the CIT program, trainees are immersed in all aspects of running a business. They have access to mentorship from board members and executives at other Alpine-backed companies, and they regularly gather as a cohort for networking and peer coaching summits. Weaver says the program, launched in 2015, allows aspiring executives to move into CEO rolesa journey that can take decadesin just months or a few short years. Graham Weaver [Photo: Alpine Investors] We created a system where aspiring leaders could come in and learn the basics of being a CEO with a kind of safety net underneath them, which gives them a very, very high probability of success, says Weaver, who also teaches a class focused on leadership and entrepreneurship at Stanford Universitys Graduate School of Business. The CEO-in-Training program is highly selective. Alpine hired 14 CITs for its 2024 cohort, and this year it will recruit about 10 trainees in a process that is set to wrap up in early summer. The company says Stanford, Harvard Business School, Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, and the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School all confirm that the Alpine CIT program is one of the most applied-to programs among MBAs seeking executive roles in private equity (PE)-backed companies. What makes a successful CIT? Weaver says the ideal candidates for the CIT program have a will to winthats something we cant teach, but he also seeks candidates who can temper their competitiveness with self-awareness and emotional intelligence. We used to not screen for that, he says. We would get these really hard-charging people, and they wouldn’t work out in our system, where its really team-based. Finally, he looks for people who can create a followership, adding, this rarely is the charismatic person who stands up and gives the big rah-rah speech. Its actually just someone people trust; they want to go where this persons going. Alpines program has produced a diverse group of leaders: Since launching, the program has minted more than 65 full-time CEOs for its portfolio companies; nearly 40% are women, and nearly a quarter are women of color. Weaver says his commitment to training a new generation of executives stems from his belief that Alpines talent strategy differentiates it from other private equity firms in terms of attracting investing professionals and portfolio company executives alike. He says rather than ceding talent development to human resources, he has sought to operationalize it through programs such as the CIT program and other initiatives. Weaver personally dedicates nearly 50% of his time to assessing and developing talent, he says, including evaluating potential hires to run Alpine portfolio companies, designing culture, and more. The Gen Z difference Weaver, who has taught and hired employees from different generations, is bullish on Gen Z, the newest cohort to enter the workforce. I know a lot of people complain about this generation. The stereotype is that theyre going to quit their jobs more quickly or they have their own personal goals, and theyre difficult to manage, Weaver says. But underneath all that is that they want to make a difference. When I asked how a career in private equity, with its relentless pursuit of efficiency, margin improvement, and cash, can satisfy purpose-driven young people, Weaver noted that several Alpine portfolio companies provide software and services to nonprofits or support their communities through healthcare and education services. He says he takes pride in making sure the people who work at Alpine and its portfolio companiesabout 38,000 peoplehave meaningful work and career opportunities. And Weaver says he appreciates the values that Gen Z is bringing to Alpine. They hold us to a higher standard, he says. If you can meet that standard, Gen Zs amazing. How do you train the next generation of leaders? Are you or your team focused on developing young leaders through mentorship, formal training programs, or in other ways? Id love to hear about these efforts. Send me your thoughts at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Read more: Gen Z Fast Companys 142-point guide to managing Gen Z Meet the youngest founders on the Inc. 5000 list of Americas fastest-growing companies Gen Z distrusts capitalism. Will they prevail in changing the system?
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Pope Francis, historys first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change, died Monday. He was 88. Bells tolled in church towers across Rome after the announcement, which was read out by Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta, where Francis lived. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church, Ferrell said. Francis, who suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on February 14, 2025, for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy. But he emerged on Easter Sundayhis last public appearance, a day before his deathto bless thousands of people in St. Peters Square and treat them to a surprise popemobile romp through the piazza, drawing wild cheers and applause. Beforehand, he met briefly with U.S. Vice President JD Vance. Francis performed the blessing from the same loggia where he was introduced to the world on March 13, 2013 as the 266th pope. From his first greeting that nighta remarkably normal Buonasera (Good evening)to his embrace of refugees and the downtrodden, Francis signaled a very different tone for the papacy, stressing humility over hubris for a Catholic Church beset by scandal and accusations of indifference. After that rainy night, the Argentine-born Jorge Mario Bergoglio brought a breath of fresh air into a 2,000-year-old institution that had seen its influence wane during the troubled tenure of Pope Benedict XVI, whose surprise resignation led to Francis election. But Francis soon invited troubles of his own, and conservatives grew increasingly upset with his progressive bent, outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and crackdown on traditionalists. His greatest test came in 2018 when he botched a notorious case of clergy sexual abuse in Chile, and the scandal that festered under his predecessors erupted anew on his watch. And then Francis, the crowd-loving, globe-trotting pope of the peripheries, navigated the unprecedented reality of leading a universal religion through the coronavirus pandemic from a locked-down Vatican City. He implored the world to use COVID-19 as an opportunity to rethink the economic and political framework that he said had turned rich against poor. We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, Francis told an empty St. Peters Square in March 2020. But he also stressed the pandemic showed the need for all of us to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other. At the Vatican on Monday, the mood was a mix of somber quiet among people who knew and worked for Francis, and the typical buzz of tourists visiting St. Peters Square on the day after Easter. While many initially didn’t know the news, some sensed something happening given the swarms of television crews. The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, wiped tears from his eyes as he met with journalists in the press room. The death now sets off a weekslong process of allowing the faithful to pay their final respects, first for Vatican officials in the Santa Marta chapel and then in St. Peters for the general public, followed by a funeral and a conclave to elect a new pope. Reforming the Vatican Francis was elected on a mandate to reform the Vatican bureaucracy and finances but went further in shaking up the church without changing its core doctrine. Who am I to judge? he replied when asked about a purportedly gay priest. The comment sent a message of welcome to the LGBTQ+ community and those who felt shunned by a church that had stressed sexual propriety over unconditional love. Being homosexual is not a crime, he told the Associated Press in 2023, urging an end to civil laws that criminalize it. Stressing mercy, Francis changed the churchs position on the death penalty, calling it inadmissible in all circumstances. He also declared the possession of nuclear weapons, not just their use, was immoral. In other firsts, he approved an agreement with China over bishop nominations that had vexed the Vatican for decades, met the Russian patriarch, and charted new relations with the Muslim world by visiting the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq. He reaffirmed the all-male, celibate priesthood and upheld the churchs opposition to abortion, equating it to hiring a hit man to solve a problem. Roles for women But he added women to important decision-making roles and allowed them to serve as lectors and acolytes in parishes. He let women vote alongside bishops in periodic Vatican meetings, following long-standing complaints that women do much of the churchs work but are barred from power. Sister Nathalie Becquart, whom Francis named to one of the highest Vatican jobs, said his legacy was a vision of a church where men and women existed in a relationship of reciprocity and respect. It was about shifting a pattern of dominationfrom human being to the creation, from men to womento a pattern of cooperation, said Becquart, the first woman to hold a voting position in a Vatican synod. The church as refuge While Francis did not allow women to be ordained, the voting reform was part of a revolutionary change in emphasizing what the church should be: a refuge for everyonetodos, todos, todos (everyone, everyone, everyone)not for the privileged few. Migrants, the poor, prisoners and outcasts were invited to his table far more than presidents or powerful CEOs. For Pope Francis, it was always to extend the arms of the church to embrace all people, not to exclude anyone, said Farrell, the camerlengo, taking charge after a pontiffs death or retirement. Francis demanded his bishops apply mercy and charity to their flocks, pressed the world to protect Gods creation from climate disaster, and challenged countries to welcome those fleeing war, poverty, and oppression. After visiting Mexico in 2016, Francis said of then-U.S. presidential canidate Donald Trump that anyone building a wall to keep migrants out is not Christian. While progressives were thrilled with Francis radical focus on Jesus message of mercy and inclusion, it troubled conservatives who feared he watered down Catholic teaching and threatened the very Christian identity of the West. Some even called him a heretic. A few cardinals openly challenged him. Francis usually responded with his typical answer to conflict: silence. He made it easier for married Catholics to get an annulment, allowed priests to absolve women who had had abortions and decreed that priests could bless same-sex couples. He opened debate on issues like homosexuality and divorce, giving pastors wiggle room to discern how to accompany their flocks, rather than handing them strict rules to apply. St. Francis of Assisi as a model Francis lived in the Vatican hotel instead of the Apostolic Palace, wore his old orthotic shoes and not the red loafers of the papacy, and rode in compact cars. It wasnt a gimmick. I see clearly that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful, he told a Jesuit journal in 2013. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. If becoming the first Latin American and first Jesuit pope wasnt enough, Francis was also the first to name himself after St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th century friar known for personal simplicity, a message of peace, and care for nature and societys outcasts. Francis sought out the unemployed, the sick, the disabled and the homeless. He formally apologized to Indigenous peoples for the crimes of the church from colonial times onward. And he himself suffered: He had part of his colon removed in 2021, then needed more surgery in 2023 to repair a painful hernia and remove intestinal scar tissue. Starting in 2022 he regularly used a wheelchair or cane because of bad knees, and endured bouts of bronchitis. He went to societys fringes to minister with mercy: caressing the grossly deformed head of a man in St. Peters Square, kissing the tattoo of a Holocaust survivor, or inviting Argentinas garbage scavengers to join him onstage in Rio de Janeiro. We have always been marginalized, but Pope Francis always helped us, said Coqui Vargas, a transgender woman whose Roman community forged a unique relationship with Francis during the pandemic. His first trip as pope was to the island of Lampedusa, then the epicenter of Europes migration crisis. He consistently chose to visit poor countries where Christians were often persecuted minorities, rather than the centers of global Catholicism. Friend and fellow Argentine, Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, said his concern for the poor and disenfranchised was based on the Beatitudesthe eight blessings Jesus delivered in the Sermon on the Mount for the meek, the merciful, the poor in spirit and others. Why are the Beatitudes the program of this pontificate? Because they were the basis of Jesus Christs own program, Sánchez said. Missteps on sexual abuse scandal But more than a year passed before Francis met with survivors of priestly sexual abuse, and victims groups initially questioned whether he really understood the scope of the problem. Francis did create a sex abuse commission to advise the church on best practices, but it lost its influence after a few years and its recommendation of a tribunal to judge bishops who covered up for predator priests went nowhere. And then came the greatest crisis of his papacy, when he discredited Chilean abuse victims in 2018 and stood by a controversial bishop linked to their abuser. Realizing his error, Francis invited the victims to the Vatican for a personal mea culpa and summoned the leadership of the Chilean church to resign en masse. As that crisis concluded, a new one erupted over ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington and a counselor to three popes. Francis had actually moved swiftly to sideline McCarrick amid an accusation he had molested a teenage altar boy in the 1970s. But Francis nevertheless was accused by the Vaticans one-time U.S. ambassador of having rehabilitated McCarrick early in his papacy. Francis eventually defrocked McCarrick after a Vatican investigation determined he sexually abused adults as well as minors. He changed church law to remove the pontifical secret surrounding abuse cases and enacted procedures to investigate bishops who abused or covered for their pedophile priests, seeking to end impunity for the hierarchy. He sincerely wanted to do something and he transmitted that, said Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean abuse survivor Francis discredited who later developed a close friendship with the pontiff. A change from Benedict The road to Francis 2013 election was paved by Pope Benedict XVIs decision to resign and retirethe first in 600 yearsand it created the unprecedented reality of two popes living in the Vatican. Francis didnt shy from Benedicts potentially uncomfortable shadow. He embraced him as an elder statesman and adviser, coaxing him out of his cloistered retirement to participate in the public life of the church. Its like having your grandfather in the house, a wise grandfather, Francis said. Francis praised Benedict by saying he opened the door to others following suit, fueling speculation that Francis also might retire. But after Benedicts death on Dec. 31, 2022, he asserted that in principle the papacy is a job for life. Francis looser liturgical style and pastoral priorities made clear he and the German-born theologian came from very different religious traditions, and Francis directly overturned several decisions of his predecessor. He made sure Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero, a hero to the liberation theology movement in Latin America, was canonized after his case languished under Benedict over concerns about the credos Marxist bent. Francis reimposed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass that Benedict had relaxed, arguing the spread of the Tridentine Rite was divisive. The move riled Francis traditionalist critics and opened sustained conflict between right-wing Catholics, particularly in the U.S., and the Argentine pope. Conservatives oppose Francis By then, conservatives had already turned away from Francis, betrayed after he opened debate on allowing remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments if they didnt get an annulmenta church ruling that their first marriage was invalid. We dont like this pope, headlined Italys conservative daily Il Foglio a few months into the papacy, reflecting the unease of the small but vocal traditionalist Catholic movement that was coddled under Benedict. Those same critics amplified their complaints after Francis approved church blessings for same-sex couples, and a controversial accord with China over nominating bishops. Its details were never released, but conservative critics bashed it as a sellout to communist China, while the Vatican defended it as the best deal it could get with Beijing. U.S. Cardina Raymond Burke, a figurehead in the anti-Francis opposition, said the church had become like a ship without a rudder. Burke waged his opposition campaign for years, starting when Francis fired him as the Vaticans supreme court justice and culminating with his vocal opposition to Francis 2023 synod on the churchs future. Twice, he joined other conservative cardinals in formally asking Francis to explain himself on doctrine issues reflecting a more progressive bent, including on the possibility of same-sex blessings and his outreach to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics. Francis eventually sanctioned Burke financially, accusing him of sowing disunity. It was one of several personnel moves he made in both the Vatican and around the world to shift the balance of power from doctrinaire leaders to more pastoral ones. Francis insisted his bishops and cardinals imbue themselves with the odor of their flock and minister to the faithful, voicing displeasure when they didnt. His 2014 Christmas address to the Vatican Curia was one of the greatest public papal reprimands ever: Standing in the marbled Apostolic Palace, Francis ticked off 15 ailments that he said can afflict his closest collaborators, including spiritual Alzheimers, lusting for power and the terrorism of gossip. Trying to eliminate corruption, Francis oversaw the reform of the scandal-marred Vatican bank and sought to wrestle Vatican bureaucrats into financial line, limiting their compensation and ability to receive gifts or award public contracts. He authorized Vatican police to raid his own secretariat of state and the Vaticans financial watchdog agency amid suspicions about a 350 million euro investment in a London real estate venture. After a 2 1/2-year trial, the Vatican tribunal convicted a once-powerful cardinal, Angelo Becciu, of embezzlement and returned mixed verdicts to nine others, acquitting one. The trial, though, proved to be a reputational boomerang for the Holy See, showing deficiencies in the Vaticans legal system, unseemly turf battles among monsignors, and how the pope had intervened on behalf of prosecutors. While earning praise for trying to turn the Vaticans finances around, Francis angered U.S. conservatives for his frequent excoriation of the global financial market that favors the rich over the poor. Economic justice was an important themes of his papacy, and he didnt hide it in his first meeting with journalists when he said he wanted a poor church that is for the poor. In his first major teaching document, The Joy of the Gospel, Francis denounced trickle-down economic theories as unproven and naive, based on a mentality where the powerful feed upon the powerless with no regard for ethics, the environment or even God. Money must serve, not rule! he said in urging political reforms. He elaborated on that in his major eco-encyclical Praised Be, denouncing the structurally perverse global economic system that he said exploited the poor and risked turning Earth into an immense pile of filth. Some U.S. conservatives branded Francis a Marxist. He jabbed back by saying he had many friends who were Marxists. Soccer, opera and prayer Born Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the eldest of five children of Italian immigrants. He credited his devout grandmother Rosa with teaching him how to pray. Weekends were spent listening to opera on the radio, going to Mass and attending matches of the familys beloved San Lorenzo soccer club. As pope, his love of soccer brought him a huge collection of jerseys from visitors. He said he received his religious calling at 17 while going to confession, recounting in a 2010 biography that, I dont know what it was, but it changed my life. . . . I realized that they were waiting for me. He entered the diocesan seminary but switched to the Jesuit order in 1958, attracted to its missionary tradition and militancy. Around this time, he suffered from pneumonia, which led to the removal of the upper part of his right lung. His frail health prevented him from becoming a missionary, and his less-than-robust lung capacity was perhaps responsible for his whisper of a voice and reluctance to sing at Mass. On Dec. 13, 1969, he was ordained a priest, and immediately began teaching. In 1973, he was named head of the Jesuits in Argentina, an appointment he later acknowledged was crazy given he was only 36. My authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led me to have serious problems and to be accused of being ultraconservative, he admitted in his Civilta Cattolica interview. Life under Argentinas dictatorship His six-year tenure as provincial coincided with Argentinas murderous 1976-83 dictatorship, when the military launched a campaign against left-wing guerrillas and other regime opponents. Bergoglio didnt publicly confront the junta and was accused of effectively allowing two slum priests to be kidnapped and tortured by not publicly endorsing their work. He refused for decades to counter that version of events. Only in a 2010 authorized biography did he finally recount the behind-the-scenes lengths he used to save them, persuading the family priest of feared dictator Jorge Videla to call in sick so he could say Mass instead. Once in the junta leaders home, Bergoglio privately appealed for mercy. Both priests were eventually released, among the few to have survived prison. As pope, accounts began to emerge of the many peoplepriests, seminarians, and political dissidentswhom Bergoglio actually saved during the dirty war, letting them stay incognito at the seminary or helping them escape the country. Bergoglio went to Germany in 1986 to research a never-finished thesis. Returning to Argentina, he was stationed in Cordoba during a period he described as a time of great interior crisis. Out of favor with more progressive Jesuit leaders, he was eventually rescued from obscurity in 1992 by St. John Paul II, who named him an auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. He became archbishop six years later, and was made a cardinal in 2001. He came close to becoming pope in 2005 when Benedict was elected, gaining the second-most votes in several rounds of balloting before bowing out. By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ___ Associated Press writer Colleen Barry contributed from Milan. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
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Behind the curtain of generative AI breakthroughs and GPU hype, a quieter transformation is taking place. Data center architecture and its prowess have become a fierce battleground as AI models expand in size and demand ever-greater compute power. Today, AIs performance, scalability and cost are all tied to the choice of network fabric. Broadcom, once known for its dominance in networking and semiconductors, is back on the rise as one of the most consequential players in AIs infrastructure revolution. Theres a shift happening in the market. Today, real AI innovation isnt just limited to models or the infrastructureits in what connects them, Ram Velaga, senior vice president and general manager of Broadcoms Core Switching Group, told Fast Company during the NTT Upgrade 2025 event. AI is not just about GPUs or compute anymore. Its about how data moves, power is managed, and how systems scale. Founded in 1991 as Broadcom Corporation, Broadcom began as a semiconductor company focused on wireless and broadband communication, operating from a modest Los Angeles garage. A major turning point occurred in 2015 when Avago Technologies acquired Broadcom for $37 billion, leading to Broadcom’s transformation into a global semiconductor and infrastructure technology leader. Avagos origins trace back to HP’s semiconductor division, linking Broadcoms current parent company to HPs semiconductor legacy. Through strategic acquisitions, including ServerWorks in 2001 and VMware in 2023, Broadcom expanded its reach, especially in the data center space. Its influence is vast, yet often underestimated. The companys reputation is driven by high-speed Ethernet chips like the Tomahawk series, which are crucial for high-bandwidth networking within data architectures. Now, the 60-year-old semiconductor giant isnt chasing headlines with ChatGPT-style theatrics. Instead, its embracing a less flashy but more foundational role: building the infrastructure for AI developers to scale the technology. Velaga and his team are quietly helping tech giants and hyperscalers (large-scale cloud service providers that offer extensive computing resources) rethink the architecture of their data centers through deeply integrated systemscodesigned chips, bespoke interconnects, and a commitment to Ethernet, even as others in the industry begin to move on. Currently, Nvidia dominates the data center network market with its GPU and Ethernet-integrated data center network platforms like Spectrum-X, which promise to drive AI training to new heights. As of 2025, Nvidia commands an estimated 25% share of the entire data center segment, and a dominant 98% share in data center GPU shipments. However, according to Broadcom CEO Hock Tan, the companys strength in custom AI processors and Ethernet networking products is fueling its growth. Broadcom expects to capture a significant portion of the expanding market, projecting its serviceable addressable market (SAM) for AI processors and networking chips to reach $6090 billion by fiscal 2027, given the company maintains its current market share of approximately 55% to 70% in the AI chip segment. While Nvidia offers both InfiniBand and Ethernet in its data center portfolio, Broadcoms Velaga contends that Ethernet is poised to become the backbone of tomorrows AI infrastructure, and the company is investing heavily to innovate the technology further. Were seeing hyperscalers including Meta and others, really leaning into Ethernet for AI infrastructure. Unlike alternatives like Infiniband, Ethernet is inherently designed to handle data failures, recalibrate quickly, and maintain performance for AI models even under real-world conditions like heat and congestion, Velaga told Fast Company during the event. Ethernet is built for all these use cases, and beats infiniband. What is Ethernet and Why Now? Ethernet is a foundational networking technology that enables wired communication between devices in data centers. It transmits data through physical cables like twisted pair or fiber optics, connecting servers, storage, and networking equipment. In modern data centers, Ethernet link speeds have scaled from 1 Gbps to 400 Gbpswith 800 Gbps already on the horizon, to handle the massive data throughput demanded by AI workloads. Moreover, the technology facilitates high-speed data transfer between GPUs and storage, enabling efficient AI training and the creation of distributed GPU clusters. Broadcoms argument is simple: Ethernet, the backbone of the internet for decades, is finally ready for its AI prime time. Ethernets openness, flexibility, and multivendor support give tech giants like Meta and Google the freedom to innovate without being boxed in by a proprietary stack. Ethernet lets you scale horizontally across thousands of GPUs. Copper has always been the cheaper and more reliable option compared to optics. For a while, people tried cramming as many racks as possible into data centers utilizing copper networking, but that approach just isnt sustainable, Velaga said. Now, were seeing a shift toward optics to meet higher power and bandwidth demands. Now, with our current and upcoming chipsets that integrate copackaged photonics, were very well positioned for helping enterprises with future workloads. Another alternative, InfiniBand designed for environments that demand ultrafast data transfer and minimal latencysuch as HPC clusters and advanced data centers. Known for its high throughput (up to 400 Gbps) and ultralow latency (as low as one microsecond), its currently a popular choice for mission-critical workloads requiring rapid, reliable communication. However, InfiniBand operates on the assumption of a flawless environmentand according to Velaga, thats precisely the problem. He explained that modern data centers and GPU clusters exist in far-from-perfect conditions. As organizations scale their AI infrastructure, they quickly run into challenges like heat, signal degradation, and system noise. In the real world, systems arent perfect, he said. Theres noise, heat, jitter. InfiniBand assumes everything is lossless. Ethernet was built to deal with reality. Tomahawk5 vs. Spectrum-X: A Battle of Philosophies NVIDIAs SpectrumX isnt just Ethernetits NVIDIAs customized version of it. The company markets SpectrumX as a purpose-built platform for AI, combining proprietary clustering with claimed performance and efficiency gains: 1.61.7 times higher network throughput, 2.5 times better bandwidth for collective operations, and 1.7 times improved power-performance, leading to a lower total cost of ownership for distributed AI training. By April 2025, SpectrumX had been adopted by major tech players including Dell, HPE, Lenovo, and leading hyperscalers. But Velaga argues that real flexibility and reliability come from open-standard Ethernet, where any GPU can plug in without locking users into a single vendors ecosystem. NVIDIAs market approach, he says, is contradictory to Ethernets core principles: openness, interoperability, and customer choice. When someone says their Ethernet is better than others, they probably dont fully understand what Ethernet is, he asserts. The beauty ofEthernet is you can connect any GPU from any vendor using our switches, and it just works. Thats interoperability. Solutions that lock you into one vendors world are not scalable. Currently, Broadcoms main competitors to Nvidias Spectrum-X are its Tomahawk5 and Jericho3-AI switch ASICs. Tomahawk5 is a high-throughput Ethernet switch designed for hyperscale and AI data centers, featuring advanced congestion management to reduce latency and supporting interoperability with any vendors data center infrastructure, helping customers avoid vendor lock-in. Likewise, Jericho3-AI is purpose-built for AI and machine learning workloads, enabling near-lossless Ethernet performance across large-scale clusters, similar to the performance claims made by Nvidias Spectrum-X. Id challenge NVIDIA and others any day on both interoperability and performance. Broadcoms Ethernet offerings are miles ahead of Spectrum-X or any proprietary offerings out there, Velaga told Fast Company. Strategic Partnerships and Silicon Ambitions Amidst the Rise of AI Broadcom is creating custom silicon for AI leaders like Alphabet, Meta, OpenAI, and Apple, designing ASIC chips tailored to optimize bandwidth, memory efficiency, and power draw for AI workloads in data centers and AI architectures. The company also provides key technologies such as high-bandwidth Ethernet switches, PCIe connectivity, and optical interconnects, all essential for scaling AI clusters. Velaga emphasized that these innovations enable clients to achieve superior data movement, processing speed, and energy efficiency, far surpassing off-the-shelf solutions. Our goal is to help customers differentiate themselves, Velaga said. We provide the tools they need to build what works best for themwithout dictating the approach. They want flexible, cost-effective networking solutions to optimize their data centers and accelerators. With our Ethernet portfolio, ASICs, and silicon innovations, we are empowering large-scale GPU clusters to perform efficiently and at scale, essential for advancing AI. He added that Broadcom’s flexible approach positions the company as a key collaborative partner, an advantage likely to grow as AI infrastructure evolves. Despite his confidence, Velaga admits there are risks. AI investment is surging now, but what if the momentum stalls? Everyones asking how long this wave will last. From my perspective, it feels like a real paradigm shift, he said. LLMs are changing how companies analyze data, make decisions, and engage with customers. Theres a lot at stake in this cycle. What keeps him up at night isnt hypeits execution. We have to keep delivering innovation and scale so our customers stay confident in Broadcoms ecosystem. And so far, the signals are strong. Our customers arent pulling back, theyre doubling down. Were ready to lead. Whether the boom continues or levels off, Broadcom is betting that the demand for fast, open data movement will only intensify. If Velagas vision is right, tomorrows AI data centers will be stitched together with open Ethernet, copackaged optics, and modular designs. We want to be the connective tissue of AI, he said. Its not the flashy partbut its the part that makes everything else work.
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