Taurus Ethernet Smart Cable Modules™

Flexible, high-performance Active Electrical Cables for AI and cloud connectivity

Download Portfolio Brief

Unleashing High Density AI Connectivity

  • Extend 200/400/800G Ethernet signal reach for high-density AI racks using Active Electrical Cables
  • Enhance signal integrity and bandwidth utilization for diverse AI topologies with thin and flexible cables
  • Scalable across diverse systems using standard connector form factors with gearbox and breakout options
  • COSMOS suite for performance optimization and seamless fleet management across dense AI platforms

Taurus Highlights

Optimizing Ethernet Connectivity for AI and Cloud

Extended Robust
Signal Reach

Over copper cables

Flexible Copper
Cables

Optimizing routing, service, and airflow

Enhanced Diagnostics
& Telemetry

Advanced capabilities through out-of-band management

Why Use Taurus Ethernet Smart Cable Modules?

Taurus enables robust, easy-to-design 100G/Lane Ethernet connectivity with high reliability and maximum uptime, featuring the COSMOS’ built-in suite for advanced fleet management, security, and deep diagnostics.

Robustness

  • Extended Cable Line Rate

    Future proof scalability for 200G/400G/800G

  • Low Power

    Uses 50% less power than Active Optical Cables

  • Low Latency

    Low latency operation at <50ns

  • Security

    Advanced security features help prevent malicious attacks of unauthorized firmware loading, module diagnostics access, and configurations

Easy System Design

  • Thin Cable Gauge

    Up to 34AWG

  • Fewer Twinax Pairs

    8 pairs at 200G/400G/800G reduces overall external diameter of cables

  • Extended Reach

    Up to 7m of reach

  • Flexible Supply Chain

    Taurus Smart Cable Modules are compatible with multiple cable vendors for easy second sourcing of active cable assembly

Fleet Management

  • Quick Debug

    Self-test features enable rapid troubleshooting

  • Deep Diagnostics

    Cable-side and host-side diagnostics enable easy management of entire fleets

Use Cases

Switch-to-Server

Enabling an “Active” plus “Smart” approach to higher-bandwidth Switch-to-Server Ethernet interconnects and Switch-to-NIC bandwidth utilization

Resources

Ordering Information

Orderable Part NumberDescriptionMax Data GenCable Line RateModePackage / ConnectorOrdering
EM400-QDX400G QSFP-DD Taurus Smart Cable Module400G50G/Lane, 100G/LanePAM4QSFP-DDContact Us, https://www.asteralabs.com/product-details/em400-qdx/
EM400-EPS400G OSFP Taurus Smart Cable Module400G50G/Lane, 100G/LanePAM4OSFPContact Us, https://www.asteralabs.com/product-details/em400-eps/
EM800-EPS800G OSFP Taurus Smart Cable Module800G100G/LanePAM4OSFPContact Us, https://www.asteralabs.com/product-details/em800-eps/
EM800-QDX800G QSFP-DD Taurus Smart Cable Module800G100G/LanePAM4QSFP-DDContact Us, https://www.asteralabs.com/product-details/em800-qdx/
EM200-QDX200G QSFP-DD Taurus Smart Cable Module200G25G/LaneNRZQSFP-DDContact Us, https://www.asteralabs.com/product-details/em200-qdx/

How PCIe® Retimers Keep High-Performance AI Infrastructure Connected

AI is accelerating at a pace few industries have ever witnessed. Every six months, model sizes are doubling, workloads are scaling across thousands of GPUs, and the demands on compute infrastructure are surging beyond anything imagined even a few years ago.At the rack level — and increasingly across entire data center systems — signals must travel longer distances, often over hundreds…

Read more

Unlocking AI Performance: The Role of Scale-Up Interconnects in Accelerated Computing

The rapid advancement of AI—fueled by increasingly complex training and inference workloads and its widespread adoption across industries—is the primary driver of computing demand. The rise of reasoning-based, multi-step AI inference workloads further accelerates this trend. To meet the needs of these compute-intensive applications, such as agentic and autonomous AI, high-performance…

Read more

The Next Generation of AI Server Design with Scorpio Smart Fabric Switches

As AI accelerators evolve, computing platforms are increasingly integrating multiple PCIe® generations, creating new challenges in platform design. In addition, hyperscalers and system integrators are deploying platforms at unprecedented speed, further driving the need to design for modularity and scale.Astera Labs’ P-Series Scorpio Smart Fabric Switches are purpose-built to overcome…

Read more

Astera Labs Expands Collaboration with NVIDIA to Advance NVLink Fusion Ecosystem

NVLink connectivity solutions will further bolster Astera Labs’ Intelligent Connectivity Platform, expanding options for hyperscalers to deploy high-performance, scale-up networks – SANTA CLARA, CA, U.S. – May 19, 2025 – Astera Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALAB), a global leader in semiconductor-based connectivity solutions for AI and cloud infrastructure, today announced it is collaborating…

Read more

Astera Labs Announces Financial Results for the First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2025

Record quarterly revenue of $159.4 million, up 13% QoQ and 144% YoYStrong demand for PCIe scale-up and Ethernet scale-out in custom ASIC platformsPCIe 6 connectivity portfolio poised to ramp in leading GPU-based rack-scale systems starting in Q2 – SANTA CLARA, CA, U.S. – May 6, 2025 – Astera Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALAB), a global leader in semiconductor-based connectivity…

Read more

Astera Labs to Share Vision for Expanding Opportunities in AI Infrastructure with UALink

With broad industry support from 100+ companies in the UALink Consortium and the ratification of the UALink 200G 1.0 specification, UALink is emerging as the essential open standard for scale-up AI infrastructure – SANTA CLARA, CA, U.S. – May 5, 2025 – Astera Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALAB), a global leader in semiconductor-based connectivity solutions for AI and cloud infrastructure,…

Read more

Astera Labs Ramps Production of PCIe 6 Connectivity Portfolio Supercharging Advanced AI and Cloud Infrastructure Deployments

New gearbox solution broadens the industry’s most widely deployed PCIe offerings across multiple, diverse AI platforms with leading hyperscale and cloud customers – SANTA CLARA, CA, U.S. – May 1, 2025 – Astera Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALAB), a global leader in semiconductor-based connectivity solutions for AI and cloud infrastructure, today announced its purpose-built PCIe® 6 connectivity…

Read more

First Look Demo: Aries 6 Smart Gearbox

See the industry’s first purpose-built PCIe gearbox solution that intelligently bridges the performance gap between the latest PCIe 6 devices and existing PCIe 5 ecosystem.Learn how Aries 6 Gearbox solves the challenge of degraded-performance in mixed-generation systems, ensuring full utilization of high-speed lanes and accelerating the deployment of next-generation AI platforms while…

Read more

NVIDIA GTC 2025: End-to-End PCIe 6 Interop

At NVIDIA GTC 2025, Astera Labs showcased PCIe 6 end-to-end connectivity with our Scorpio P-Series Fabric Switch interconnected to Micron’s PCIe 6 SSD, an NVIDIA Blackwell GPU through our Aries 6 Smart Retimer, and an NVIDIA CX7 NIC card, with an Intel CPU connected on the upstream side. The demonstration shows how our Scorpio P-Series Fabric Switch can support mixed mode traffic, while…

Read more

NVIDIA GTC 2025: Hyperscaler-Inspired Scale-Out Rack Architecture

At NVIDIA GTC 2025, Astera Labs showcased how hyperscalers can gain smart connectivity and optionality for NVIDIA rack-scale Blackwell deployments. We showcased modular architecture with a Scorpio IO Switch Board with two NICs connected via the Aries Retimer Mezzanine Board to the GB200. In this set-up, we show how the third-party NICs can provide maximum bandwidth to saturate the Blackwell…

Read more