linux-drivers/
drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnge

Broadcom Thor Ultra BCM57708 800G AI Ethernet NICs

Broadcom's Thor Ultra BCM57708 is a current-generation 50/100/200/400/800 Gbps PCIe Ethernet adapter aimed at AI, HPC, cloud, and storage back-end fabrics. It was announced in October 2025 as the industry's first 800G AI Ethernet NIC and targets specialized accelerator-server deployments rather than mainstream enterprise networking.

keep conf=0.94 deploy=low replacement=none subsystem=net category=networking-ethernet
94%

recommendation

It should stay in the kernel because this is brand-new hardware under active upstream development. Broadcom only announced the Thor Ultra BCM57708 in October 2025, and netdev traffic shows feature patches landing in late 2025 and bug fixes still arriving in early 2026. Deployment numbers are low today simply because the part is just reaching the market, not because it's fading.

repository signals

23 files
10,393 source lines
39 commits, 5y
+10,565 / −158 lines added / removed, 5y
9 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 39 total · active in 6/61 months
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sources

  1. spinics.net

    Netdev posting from 2025-11-12 shows an active 12-patch bnge feature series adding link, Rx/Tx, LRO/TPA, and stats support.

  2. spinics.net

    A bnge bug-fix patch was posted on 2026-02-18, indicating current upstream maintenance rather than removal.

  3. investors.broadcom.com

    Broadcom announced Thor Ultra on 2025-10-14 as an 800G AI Ethernet NIC and stated it was sampling.

  4. docs.broadcom.com

    Broadcom's BCM57708 product brief describes the adapter as a current 800Gb/s Ethernet NIC for AI/ML, cloud, HPC, and storage deployments.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Local shell inspection of bnge_core.c identified PCI ID 0x1780 and product string 'Broadcom BCM57708 ThorUltra 50Gb/100Gb/200Gb/400Gb/800Gb Ethernet'. Lore-first evidence was gathered via web search because local `lei` was unavailable: spinics mirrors show substantial netdev activity in Nov 2025 and a fix patch in Feb 2026, with no removal/deprecation signal found. Broadcom press/product pages found by web search show the hardware is a current-generation AI NIC, so this is not legacy silicon. Deployment is marked low because the part appears new and aimed at specialized AI/HPC servers, not broad commodity fleets.