Nvidia-backed Upscale AI launches platform to link chips from rival makers
Upscale AI, a Santa Clara networking startup backed by Nvidia, launched a platform on Thursday that lets data centres link AI chips made by different suppliers, Reuters reported. The product, called Token...
Upscale AI, a Santa Clara networking startup backed by Nvidia, launched a platform on Thursday that lets data centres link AI chips made by different suppliers, Reuters reported . The product, called Token Fabric, was revealed in a company announcement today. Upscale said it is built on open standards and works with graphics chips, custom AI chips, and network cards from any vendor.
Large AI systems distribute work across thousands of chips that must constantly exchange data. Networking gear links chips within a single server rack, known as scale-up. It also links racks across a building, known as scale-out.
When data moves too slowly, costly chips sit idle. Many of today’s biggest systems use one vendor’s own links, such as Nvidia’s NVLink. Upscale instead backs shared standards, including UALink and Ethernet for Scale-Up Networking (ESUN), so that chips from rival makers can sit on the same network.
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Token Fabric combines SkyFabriX, Upscale’s own scale-up switch chip, with scale-out switches built on Nvidia’s Spectrum-X Ethernet chips. Two software layers, SkyOS and SkyCMD, run and monitor the whole network. According to Reuters, the software can identify bottlenecks and flag hardware that may need replacement.
“The network is the backbone of the AI factory, keeping accelerators connected and productive as systems scale,” Gilad Shainer, Nvidia’s senior vice president of networking, said in the statement. The first part of the platform is due in the fourth quarter, with the rest rolling out in stages through 2027, Reuters reported.
Upscale’s statement puts general availability in early 2027 and says early-access programmes are under way. Chief executive Barun Kar told Reuters he expects Token Fabric revenue next year in the tens of millions of dollars, possibly reaching the low hundreds of millions. Upscale is targeting large cloud providers and neoclouds, smaller firms that rent out AI computing power.
Kar and executive chairman Rajiv Khemani founded the company in 2025. It raised a seed round of more than $100m that September and a $200m Series A in January. In June, it added a $190m extension led by Premji Invest, valuing it at $2bn.
Nvidia, Salesforce Ventures, and Temasek joined that round, bringing total funding to about $500m. Nvidia has taken stakes in many AI firms, building a $99bn equity portfolio by late July. Other startups are also raising money to ease data bottlenecks between chips.
In July, chip interconnect firm Eliyan reached a $1bn valuation.
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