USFP spec sheet
Every figure Cisco and NVIDIA have published for USFP, with its source, and the specifications nobody has published yet.
Cisco and NVIDIA announced design plans, not a finished specification, so this sheet has two halves: what they've said, and what a buyer or a system designer would need that hasn't been said yet. We update it when anything new appears.
Published figures
| Item | USFP | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ultra-Dense Small Form Factor Pluggable | Cisco |
| Electrical lane rate | 400 Gb/s per lane; also supports 200G-per-lane systems | Cisco blog |
| Lanes, first design | 16 full-duplex | Cisco |
| Lanes, later | 32 or more | NVIDIA |
| Capacity per module | 6.4 Tb/s at 16 lanes; 12.8 Tb/s at 32 lanes | Cisco blog |
| Size | "OSFP-sized" footprint; no drawings published | Cisco |
| Heat | Up to 100 W without a dedicated embedded cooling circuit | Cisco |
| Connector | Two-dimensional contact array, two-step insertion, high-speed contacts engage after seating | Cisco |
| Density claim | 4x the front-panel bandwidth density of 200G-per-lane pluggables | NVIDIA |
| Efficiency claim | About 1.3x the power efficiency of 200G-per-lane pluggables (not independently measured) | NAND Research |
| Optics | "A broad range" of optical technologies and distances, including designs that simplify signal processing | Cisco |
| First products | Switches and SuperNICs, Ethernet AI fabrics | NVIDIA |
| Partners | TE Connectivity and Amphenol (cages, connectors, modules) | Cisco |
| Standard | Planned open specification through a community-led multi-source agreement | NVIDIA |
About the 12.8T figure: the press release says customers "will be able to achieve 12.8Tb/s of overall capacity with USFP" without saying how. The Cisco blog post is clearer: 16 lanes give 6.4T, and scaling to 32 lanes gives 12.8T. Both numbers are one direction, the way the industry quotes a "1.6T" OSFP.
Not published yet
- Mechanical drawings: exact width, height and length, and how many ports fit across a 1RU or OCP rack unit.
- The connector's pin map, including how many contacts carry power and management.
- Which Ethernet port types it carries (for example four 1.6T or two 3.2T per module) and the breakout options.
- Optical interfaces and reach classes: which DR, FR, LR or SR variants, and the fiber connectors on the front.
- Power classes below the 100 W ceiling, and the thermal test conditions.
- Management interface (whether it uses CMIS, as OSFP and QSFP-DD do).
- Whether any adapter will let OSFP modules work in USFP cages. Neither company has claimed it.
- The MSA's name, members, licensing terms and publication date.
- Sampling dates, ship dates and prices.
Analysts at NAND Research list port mappings, modulation, reach classes and qualification methods as the open items too (NAND Research).
Hear the day the spec is published
Nothing to buy yet and no spec to read. Leave your work email and we'll write once, the day the specification is published or a maker announces modules, with what changed.
Sources
- NVIDIA and Cisco Introduce New Pluggable Optics Form Factor to Scale AI Factories, Cisco Newsroom, October 12, 2026.
- NVIDIA and Cisco Introduce New Pluggable Optics Form Factor to Scale AI Factories, NVIDIA investor relations, October 12, 2026.
- Cisco and NVIDIA Announce USFP: Expanding the Path to AI Connectivity, Cisco Blogs (Bill Gartner and Will Eatherton), October 12, 2026.
- Cisco and NVIDIA: Optical Ultra-Dense Small Form Factor Pluggable (USFP) Specification, NAND Research, October 13, 2026.