NVIDIA doesn’t just live on GPUs: its new BlueField-4 processor is key to the future of AI data centers

NVIDIA has announced the new generation of its DPU, the NVIDIA BlueField-4. This processor is not designed to run AI models directly, like GPUs, but to manage the entire network, storage and security infrastructure that supports them. It aims to optimize large-scale AI factories, which face growing demand for trillion-token workloads.

BlueField-4 is focused on accelerating these three key pillars. To do this, it offers a 800 Gb/s performance. The company describes it as an engine designed for a new class of AI storage platforms, seeking to process data more efficiently at scale and improve inference performance.

Grace CPU and 800 Gb/s networking on a single chip

To achieve this performance, the BlueField-4 combines inside a NVIDIA Grace CPU core with the network technology of the also new NVIDIA ConnectX-9. According to the company, this architecture offers 6 times more power of computing and supports AI data centers up to 4 times larger than those possible with the previous generation, BlueField-3.

Along with the DPU, NVIDIA also presented the ConnectX-9 SuperNICan 800 Gb/s network card designed for the Spectrum-X Ethernet infrastructure. Its function is to offer ultra-low latency and optimize data movement for the most demanding AI workloads, improving RoCE (RDMA over Converged Ethernet) performance.

The hardware is supported by the NVIDIA DOCA software platform. This works through containerized microservices that, according to NVIDIA, simplify, scale and secure AI deployment and operations. In the area of ​​security, BlueField-4 includes an architecture that allows service providers to create secure bare-metal instancesguaranteeing isolation between different clients under a zero-trust model.

NVIDIA has confirmed that its main industry partners plan to adopt this new generation. Server and storage manufacturers such as Cisco, Dell, HPEIBM, Lenovo, Supermicro, VAST Data and WEKA will integrate BlueField-4 into their upcoming platforms. Likewise, cybersecurity providers such as Palo Alto Networks and Check Point, and cloud and AI providers such as CoreWeave, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and xAI, will use the platform.

The company expects NVIDIA BlueField-4 to be available early from 2026as part of future NVIDIA Vera Rubin platforms.