- Nvidia invests $2 billion to integrate Marvell into the NVLink Fusion ecosystem
- NVLink Fusion allows third-party accelerators to communicate efficiently with Nvidia GPUs
- Marvell Provides Custom XPUs and Scalable Networking for Heterogeneous AI Infrastructures
Nvidia has invested $2 billion in Marvell Technology and entered into a strategic partnership that connects the custom chip designer to Nvidia’s AI factory ecosystem through NVLink Fusion.
NVLink Fusion allows third-party accelerators to communicate with Nvidia components over a high-bandwidth, low-latency interconnect, while maintaining compatibility with Nvidia’s rack-scale AI platforms.
The move integrates Marvell’s capabilities in analog DSP, high-performance optics, silicon photonics, and custom XPUs with Nvidia’s GPU, CPU, and networking infrastructure.
Article continues below
Nvidia expands its AI ecosystem
“The inflection inflection point has arrived. Demand for token generation is increasing and the world is rushing to build AI factories,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia.
“Together with Marvell, we enable customers to leverage Nvidia’s AI infrastructure ecosystem and scale to create specialized AI compute.”
NVLink Fusion was first launched in May 2025 as a platform for heterogeneous AI infrastructure.
It allows non-Nvidia accelerators to communicate with Nvidia GPUs over a high-bandwidth fabric.
Marvell will provide custom XPUs and a scalable NVLink Fusion-enabled network for the partnership.
Nvidia will provide Vera processors, ConnectX NICs, BlueField DPUs and NVLink interconnect components.
Each NVLink Fusion platform must include at least one Nvidia product to function properly, meaning that Marvell-designed ASICs still generate revenue for Nvidia despite using custom silicon.
“By connecting Marvell’s leadership in high-performance analog and optical DSP, silicon photonics and custom silicon to Nvidia’s expanding AI ecosystem through NVLink Fusion, we are enabling customers to build a scalable and efficient AI infrastructure,” said Matt Murphy, president and CEO of Marvell.
Marvell reported revenue of $8.2 billion for its 2026 fiscal year, which ended in January 2026, with data center revenue accounting for more than 74% of the total.
The company’s acquisition of Celestial AI late last year added photonic fabric technology to its portfolio, and this deal now places this capability within Nvidia’s ecosystem.
The two companies will also collaborate on silicon photonics technology and transforming the global telecommunications network into AI infrastructure using Nvidia’s Aerial AI-RAN for 5G and 6G networks.
Marvell isn’t the only company joining Nvidia’s proprietary ecosystem, as Samsung Foundry joined the NVLink Fusion program in October last year.
Arm followed soon after, entering the program in November and allowing its licensees to create NVLink-enabled processors for a wider range of applications.
However, not all the major chipmakers have signed on, as Nvidia’s rivals AMD, Intel and Broadcom remain notably absent from the program.
These competitors have instead chosen to support the open UALink standard as a competing rack-scale interconnect, creating a clear divide within the industry.
The absence of these competitors is significant because Marvell is already helping Amazon develop its Trainium series of AI accelerators, putting the company in an unusual position.
This existing relationship with Amazon predates this new partnership with Nvidia by several years, creating potential tensions between the two deals.
Nvidia and Marvell’s announcement does not specify whether a Trainium collaboration will emerge from this agreement, leaving the question unanswered.
However, Nvidia’s $2 billion investment was successful in attracting a key custom silicon designer into a proprietary ecosystem where it controls the interconnect standard.
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp Also.
