Arista launches XPO liquid-cooled optics for AI datacenters

Arista Networks has announced the XPO (eXtra-dense Pluggable Optics) form factor.

• Announcement: Arista introduces XPO, a liquid-cooled pluggable optics module with an integrated cold plate, delivering 204.8T per open rack unit (4X denser than OSFP), 12.8T per XPO module (8X module density vs OSFP), and support for up to 400W per module; in an example 400 MW AI datacenter with 128,000 XPUs, Arista shows switch rack count falling from ~1,400 to 352 (saving >1,050 switch racks) when replacing OSFP with XPO.
• Context & background: XPO is presented as an evolution of the OSFP ecosystem (OSFP noted as having projected shipments >100 million units in the year), builds on Arista’s prior work (including Linear-drive Pluggable Optics (LPO) introduced in 2022), and launches with an XPO MSA of 45 founding members; XPO is claimed to support existing and next-generation optics standards (DR, FR, LR, SR, ZR/ZR+, RF-Microwave, coherent-lite, slow-and-wide) and to enable native liquid cooling, lower component count, and improved reliability.