CoreWeave taps Nokia to power AI networking backbone

As artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructures continue to place stringent requirements on IT infrastructures, particularly from a networking perspective, AI hyperscaler CoreWeave has selected comms tech provider Nokia to deploy IP and optical platforms as part of massive wide area network buildout to support high-performance AI infrastructure.

CoreWeave has a stated mission of becoming the de facto industry standard for high-performance compute use cases, powering compute-intensive and complex workloads and AI-centred applications. This requires a networking backbone that provides super-fast and reliable customer access to its services as well as critical network connectivity to support the company’s AI cloud infrastructure.

Nokia believes that as requirements for generative AI, machine learning (ML), graphics and rendering continue to grow, its IP and optical portfolios, along with high-performance FP5 IP routing silicon, will provide the high programmability and customisation that allow the hyperscaler to evolve with changing traffic behaviours and growth.

The new IP routing and optical transport portfolios will form part of what is described as an “extensive” backbone build-out, with immediate roll-out across its datacentres across the US and Europe, with the aim of developing a network capable of supporting this by being secure, lossless and supporting low latency.

Specifically, Nokia said its offering will aim to support surging data demands by providing “super-fast”, reliable performance at scale and increase traffic capacity by over 30% in the same energy envelope.

CoreWeave’s IP backbone is being built with the FP5-based Nokia 7750 Service Router, which provides routing scale, 800Gbps speeds and Ethernet VPN support, and Nokia’s service router operating system.

Optical transport and datacentre interconnection across the WAN will leverage the Nokia 1830 Photonic Service Interconnect offering. The Nokia Network Services Platform will automate network functions and optimise resource allocation.

Jim Julson, director of networking at CoreWeave, said: “[We have] chosen Nokia hardware to power [our] backbone and edge platforms to meet the performance, stability and scalability demands that today’s and tomorrow’s AI and ML hyper scale clouds require.

“With the explosion of demand centred around the infrastructure required to meet these demands, Nokia has proven to be a critical partner, and we have no doubt that as CoreWeave continues to scale, Nokia will be there to help facilitate a world-class cloud experience for all our customers.”

Vach Kompella, senior vice-president and general manager of IP Networks business at Nokia, added: “As the hyperscaler behind some of the biggest AI enterprises and labs in the world, CoreWeave is at the forefront of innovation in unexplored territory. That requires proven reliability, performance at scale without compromise, and the increased efficiency Nokia’s automation solutions bring.

“This approach secures lossless and ultra-low latency delivery every single time – regardless of traffic peaks or unexpected events,” he said.

“We are looking forward to deploying Nokia IP and optical platforms in CoreWeave’s backbone as it expands its global network of datacentres.”