IN Brief:
- AI scale-up is pushing copper to its reach and power limits.
- Point2’s e-Tube uses RF transmission over plastic waveguide as an alternative.
- Keysight validation targets multi-terabit performance and reliability for hyperscalers.
Keysight Technologies and Point2 Technology are collaborating to validate multi-terabit interconnects intended to remove scale-up bottlenecks inside AI and machine learning data centres, as hyperscalers push xPU clusters to higher bandwidths under tightening power budgets.
Keysight announced the collaboration on January 29, 2026, stating that it is using high-speed digital test solutions — including the M8050A High-Performance Bit Error Ratio Tester (BERT) and DCA-X sampling oscilloscopes — to validate Point2’s e-Tube interconnect technology against the performance and reliability requirements expected in hyperscale deployments. The test work includes generation and analysis of 120 GBaud PAM4 signals, which Keysight says are required for 1.6 Terabit speeds.
The underlying problem is familiar: scale-up fabrics inside a rack, or between adjacent racks, are increasingly constrained by electrical channel loss, cable bulk, and power draw. Optics can extend reach, but power and cost remain hard to justify for every short-reach connection, particularly as cluster sizes grow and interconnect becomes a meaningful slice of system power.
Point2’s proposed answer is e-Tube, which uses RF data transmission over plastic waveguide. The company positions it as a high-density alternative to copper that can extend reach while reducing power consumption. Point2 claims its approach can deliver up to 10x longer reach than traditional copper at a comparable cost structure, while offering lower power and cost than optics and significantly lower latency than optical links. Those are aggressive comparisons, and the engineering burden sits in the measurement details: signal integrity, bit error rates, jitter tolerance, and manufacturability across real-world cabling and connector systems.
“A strategic partnership with Keysight gives us access to world-class engineering tools and support, allowing us to accelerate our e-Tube product development cycles,” says Sean Park, CEO of Point2 Technology. “The confidence that comes from validating our e-Tube platform using Keysight’s rigorous test equipment is invaluable as we engage with leading hyperscaler customers globally.”
Keysight is framing the collaboration as part of a wider industry move toward higher interface rates. The company says it is enabling early research and development on 3.2T interfaces by leveraging 448 Gbps electrical signal generation capabilities, combined with analysis using real-time and sampling oscilloscopes, to support characterisation at the speeds implied by next-generation scale-up and network fabrics.
“AI scale-up architectures demand disruptive innovation in physical interconnects,” says Dr. Joachim Peerlings, Vice President of Network and Data Centre Solutions at Keysight. “Keysight provides the industry’s trusted source of measurement truth, helping innovative partners like Point2 validate technologies quickly and confidently at multi-terabit speeds to achieve their next breakthroughs.”
For Point2, the immediate value is credibility in front of customers who will demand measured performance data, not architectural promise. For the broader ecosystem, the work signals where the bottleneck is being priced: inside the rack, where every watt and every cubic centimetre counts, and where the economics of optics remain contentious.
