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Data-center switch silicon is evolving toward higher per-chip bandwidth, faster SerDes lanes and Ethernet ports reaching 1.6 Tbps in vendor specifications. Broadcom’s Tomahawk 6 and Cisco’s Silicon One G300 are both specified at 102.4 Tb/s, but those figures do not establish equal real-world performance: a switch chip must be assessed in the context of its intended network role and the complete system around it.
What is changing in data-center switch silicon?
The clearest change in the vendor examples is growth in stated capacity. Broadcom lists its BCM56990/Tomahawk 4 family at up to 25.6 Tb/s, while its June 3, 2025 announcement describes Tomahawk 6 as a 102.4-Tb/s single-chip switch. Cisco’s February 2026 G300 data sheet specifies a 102.4-Tbps full-duplex switching processor. These are manufacturer-published figures, not independent, directly comparable performance tests.
Higher SerDes lane rates and a wider range of port configurations accompany that increase. They are related parts of the design, but they are not interchangeable measurements: a SerDes lane rate describes a chip interface, an Ethernet port rate describes a network connection, and aggregate switching capacity describes the chip’s stated overall switching bandwidth.
How do the cited generations and chips compare?
| Device | Vendor-published capacity | SerDes and Ethernet configurations | What the specification establishes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadcom BCM56990 / Tomahawk 4 family | Up to 25.6 Tb/s; the product page also lists a 12.8-Tb/s variant. | Configurations include up to 64 × 400GbE. | Broadcom product-page specifications; publication date is not stated on the page, accessed September 30, 2026. Broadcom BCM56990 product page. |
| Broadcom Tomahawk 6 | 102.4 Tb/s single-chip capacity. | Broadcom describes support for 100G and 200G SerDes and co-packaged optics. | Broadcom announcement dated June 3, 2025. Its “world’s first” and shipping descriptions are Broadcom’s claims in that announcement. Broadcom Tomahawk 6 announcement. |
| Cisco Silicon One G300 | 102.4-Tbps full-duplex switching processor. | 512 × 224-Gbps SerDes; flexible Ethernet configurations at 10, 25, 40, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1,600 Gbps. | Cisco data-sheet specifications, updated February 10, 2026. Cisco Silicon One G300 data sheet. |
The stated capacity figures should not be read as proof that one chip will deliver a particular throughput, latency, power draw or cost in a deployed network. The cited vendor material does not provide independent side-by-side measurements for those outcomes.
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Why SerDes rates and port speeds are different
SerDes (serializer/deserializer) lanes carry data between a switch chip and its interfaces or other components. Their lane rate is a building block in the design; it is not itself the rate of an Ethernet port or a promise of application throughput. Cisco specifies 512 lanes at 224 Gbps for G300, while Broadcom describes Tomahawk 6 support for 100G and 200G SerDes. Those vendor descriptions use different forms of specification and should not be treated as directly equivalent port counts.
Port configuration is the more direct question for network design: what connection speeds can the chip and the system built around it expose? Cisco’s G300 data sheet lists configurations through 1.6 Tbps Ethernet. The data sheet describes flexible configurations, not a guarantee that every chassis, port combination or deployment can use every listed speed at once.
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Why the system and deployment role matter
A switch ASIC is only one part of a data-center network device. The chassis, number and type of ports, optics, cooling, power delivery and software all influence what a deployed switch can do. Cisco announced G300-powered Nexus 9000 and 8000 systems with both liquid- and air-cooled designs, and described 1.6T OSFP optics for several switch-to-NIC and server link roles. Those announcements illustrate platform options; they do not quantify comparative field performance or cooling efficiency. Cisco G300 systems and optics announcement.
The network role matters as well. Cisco’s Silicon One family overview distinguishes web-scale switching devices from high-scale, deep-buffer routing deployments. A design for leaf-and-spine switching, AI scale-out or scale-up connectivity, or deep-buffered routing may have different priorities; a larger headline bandwidth figure alone does not show which device fits best. Cisco identifies bandwidth, scale, cost and power as factors in choosing a device for a network role. Cisco Silicon One product-family white paper.
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How to evaluate a switch chip for a real network
- Start with the role. Define whether the device is intended for leaf/spine switching, AI networking or a routing/interconnect role, then check whether the vendor describes the chip or platform for that use.
- Check capacity conventions. Record the stated aggregate bandwidth and whether the vendor identifies it as full-duplex. Do not assume figures from different vendors use the same conventions unless the documentation says so.
- Separate lanes from ports. Compare SerDes rate and count separately from supported Ethernet port speeds and port configurations.
- Verify the complete platform. Check which ports, optics, cooling approach and software are available in the particular chassis you could deploy. Chip-level specifications do not establish chassis-level availability or performance.
- Weigh system constraints. Compare power, cooling, cost and scale for the intended deployment. The cited material does not provide independent, side-by-side power, latency or cost measurements, so those claims require platform-specific evidence beyond the headline chip specifications.
What the specifications do—and do not—show
The published figures show a direction of change in these examples: Broadcom’s cited family rises from a maximum stated 25.6 Tb/s for Tomahawk 4 to 102.4 Tb/s for Tomahawk 6, and Cisco specifies its G300 at 102.4 Tbps full duplex with port configurations through 1.6 Tbps. They do not establish an industry-wide timeline, market ranking, market share, manufacturing yield, or which product is more efficient under a particular workload.
Broadcom senior vice president and general manager of its Core Switching Group Ram Velaga called Tomahawk 6 “not just an upgrade – it’s a breakthrough” in the company’s June 3, 2025 announcement. That is an attributed vendor executive characterization, not an independent technical assessment.
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