This report provides a systematic analysis of China’s network interconnect chip industry, covering industry definitions, data communication and AI computing network architectures, major chip categories, market development, competitive landscape, key downstream applications, and future development trends. The report focuses on Ethernet switch chips, network interface controller chips, physical-layer chips, and high-speed interconnect technologies and products for intelligent computing.
As cloud computing, artificial intelligence, large-model training and inference, and data center infrastructure continue to develop, network interconnect is becoming increasingly important to modern computing systems. Conventional data communication networks continue to evolve toward higher speeds and greater bandwidth, while AI computing networks are developing into multi-layer interconnect architectures combining Scale-in, Scale-up, and Scale-out, placing higher requirements on the performance and scalability of related interconnect chips.
The global network interconnect chip market brings together leading international vendors and innovative Chinese companies. International market leaders maintain strong competitive positions through long-term technological expertise, comprehensive product portfolios, and mature hardware and software ecosystems, while Chinese vendors continue to advance technological innovation, product development, and customer adoption across selected products and application scenarios.
Continued expansion of data centers and AI computing infrastructure globally and in China is driving growing demand for high-speed network interconnects and accelerating the development and deployment of switch chips, NIC chips, and other high-speed interconnect products. As AI clusters expand, network bandwidth increases, and interconnect efficiency becomes increasingly critical, network interconnect is evolving from a basic data transmission function into a key infrastructure layer affecting overall computing performance and resource utilization.
Looking ahead, network interconnect technologies are expected to evolve toward higher bandwidth, lower latency, larger-scale connectivity, and improved resource efficiency. General-purpose interconnects, dedicated high-speed interconnects, and open-standard ecosystems will continue to develop in parallel, further strengthening the role of network interconnect chips in data center and AI computing infrastructure.
