Key Things to Know: Legacy interconnects such as PCIe and Ethernet are limiting scalability in AI and high-performance computing workloads. Huawei’s UB-Mesh: A Unified Approach to Data Center InterconnectsIn response to the growing need for new connectivity options that can meet the demands of modern computing, Huawei has recently introduced UB-Mesh, a unified interconnect protocol designed to replace the patchwork of PCIe, CXL, NVLink, and TCP/IP within AI data centers. Huawei emphasised that current interconnects, including PCIe and Ethernet, struggle to sustain bandwidth as clusters scale to tens of thousands of accelerators. But strategically, UB-Mesh represents a significant push by Huawei to reduce dependence on Western interconnect standards and establish a vertically integrated AI data center ecosystem. Overall, UB-Mesh has the potential to reset the baseline for data center interconnects.