Marvell Buys XConn

Marvell is to buy XConn, the PCIe and CXL switching silicon specialist, for $540 million – 60% in cash and 40% in stock.

The acquisition strengthens Marvell’s Ultra Accelerator Link (“UALink”) scale-up switch team, adding highly experienced engineering talent with deep domain expertise in high-performance switching.

As AI workloads scale, datacentre system design is evolving from single-rack deployments to larger, multi-rack configurations. These next-generation platforms increasingly require a high-bandwidth, ultra-low latency scale-up fabric such as UALink to efficiently connect large numbers of XPUs and enable more flexible resource sharing across the system.

UALink is an open industry standard purpose-built for scale-up connectivity, enabling efficient, high-speed communication so multiple accelerators can operate together as a single, larger system.

Together, Marvell and XConn bring together a  larger, integrated team to fully address the  emerging opportunity in UALink switching as well as  support the growing list of customers and partners who want to work with Marvell in evolving their  AI platforms.

“This combination creates a compelling switching platform for accelerated infrastructure, advancing Marvell’s connectivity strategy for next-generation AI and cloud data centers,” said Matt Murphy, chairman and CEO of Marvell. “With XConn, we add proven PCIe and CXL switch products, IP, and engineering talent to expand our UALink scale-up switch team. Combined with our pending acquisition of Celestial AI, we will be well positioned to deliver customers the performance, flexibility, and architectural choice they need as AI systems grow in size and complexity.”

The XConn acquisition will enable Marvell to expand its TAM  by addressing the growing PCIe and CXL switch opportunity. PCIe switching has long been foundational to traditional computing architectures and is now emerging as a critical building block for accelerated infrastructure.

At the same time, CXL is becoming essential for memory disaggregation in modern data centers. The combination of Marvell CXL memory-expansion controllers with XConn CXL switches will establish the industry’s most comprehensive CXL portfolio to support demanding AI workloads.

XConn is engaged with more than 20 customers to date. Its PCIe 5 and CXL 2.0 switches are in production today, and its PCIe 6 and CXL 3.1 switches are currently sampling.

Marvell expects XConn CXL and PCIe switching products to begin revenue contribution in the second half of fiscal year 2027, at which time XConn will become accretive to Marvell’s non-GAAP earnings, ramping to approximately $100 million in revenue in fiscal 2028.