Architects' Tech Alliance

Apr 19, 2026 · Industry Insights

Why AI Training Hits a Network Wall and the Five Protocols Fighting for the Next‑Gen AI Interconnect

As AI models scale from billions to trillions of parameters and GPU clusters grow from dozens to hundreds of thousands of cards, traditional data‑center networking can no longer handle exabyte‑level traffic, prompting a fierce battle among five open‑source scale‑up protocols—ESUN, SUE, ETH‑X, OISA, and ETH+—each offering different trade‑offs in latency, compatibility, performance, and scalability.