A comprehensive guide to "Google Chain": Full-stack AI innovation, TPU + OCS shaping the next-generation intelligent computing network

Against the backdrop of an increasingly heated AI arms race, Google is building a unique computing moat through its “full-stack” innovations from chips to networks.

According to Zhongtai Securities, the key technical variable in this round of “Google Chain” explosion lies in the comprehensive introduction of OCS optical switching technology. By deeply integrating its self-developed TPU chips and OCS (Optical Circuit Switch) technology, Google has not only overcome the energy efficiency and scalability bottlenecks of traditional data centers, but also established new architectural standards for next-generation intelligent computing networks.

The deep coupling of TPU and OCS not only supports the efficient iteration of large models such as Gemini, but also directly drives incremental demand in upstream industry chain segments such as optical modules (especially 1.6T), MEMS chips, and optical devices. AI data centers are evolving from static architectures to dynamic photonic interconnects.

TPU v7 “Ironwood” Volume Launch: Dominant Force in ASIC Market

Zhongtai Securities believes that Google AI has built a moat around its full-stack advantages: chips (TPU) — network (OCS) — model (Gemini) — applications (cloud computing/search/advertising, etc.).

Since the establishment of the Google Brain laboratory in 2011, Google has gradually stepped into AI research, launching a series of influential achievements, including the release of the Transformer architecture in 2017 and the multimodal large model Gemini in 2023. Google has now established a layout from chips to cluster architecture to large model to application end, gradually integrating AI into multiple business processes. These businesses provide Google with massive amounts of data to refine and train its AI.

Analysts emphasize that the leapfrogging development of Google’s self-developed chips is the core of its computing power strategy.

The upcoming commercial launch of TPU v7 (Ironwood) achieves a qualitative leap in performance, with single-chip computing capability more than ten times that of the previous generation TPU v5p, and peak bandwidth reaching 7.4 TB/s.

On the cluster architecture side, Ironwood continues to adopt and optimize the 3D Torus topology structure. This architecture allows multiple “4×4×4” cubic modules to be dynamically composed, and single cluster scale can expand to 9,216 chips. To match this extremely high compute density, TPU v7 has started to configure 1.6T optical modules, which has also raised market expectations for demand for high-speed optical modules.

Supply chain research indicates that by 2026, Google’s TPU will become the dominant force in the global self-developed ASIC market, with expected shipments far exceeding competitors such as AWS Trainium or Microsoft Maia. With the dual drivers of NVIDIA GB200 and Google TPU v7, demand for 1.6T optical modules in the industry is expected to be revised upwards to more than 20 million units in 2026.

OCS: Key Technology Breaking the Bottleneck of Traditional Electrical Switching

Zhongtai Securities states that Google’s core logic in large-scale adoption of OCS (Optical Circuit Switch) in AI data centers is to solve power consumption and efficiency challenges brought by large-scale expansion (Scale-Out).

Traditional data center architectures are failing. In the traditional Clos architecture, as compute cluster scale expands exponentially, packet switches (EPS) based on electrical signals face serious power consumption and heat dissipation issues, as well as expensive cabling costs. According to Cisco estimates, the total power consumption of data center switching systems has increased 22 times over the past decade.

Google’s introduction of OCS is essentially using physical optical paths to transmit data directly, completely abandoning the ‘optical-electrical-optical’ signal conversion process.

Among them, OCS is key to realizing server disaggregation. It allows computing resources to be dynamically arranged across racks, combining computing power like building blocks, thus breaking the bottleneck of resource waste in static racks. In Ironwood clusters, 48 OCS switches connect 9,216 TPU chips, constructing a low-latency, high-bandwidth dynamic photonic network.

Data proves the superiority of this technical route: After introducing customized OCS networks, Google’s network throughput increased by 30%, power consumption dropped by 40%, network downtime was reduced by 50 times, and most importantly, capital expenditure was cut by 30%.

Deconstructing Google OCS: Unique MEMS Technology and Custom Optical Component Value

Zhongtai Securities states that to understand the investment value of the “Google Chain”, one must understand the physical composition of OCS.

Currently, Google’s mainstream Palomar OCS is based on MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) solution, with 136 optical channels (128 channels actually used). Its core working principle is to reflect optical signals through a 2D MEMS micromirror array, achieving millisecond-level optical path switching without an optical transceiver for electrical signal conversion.

This system creates unique hardware requirements.

First is the custom optical module. Google embeds circulators in its optical modules, realizing bidirectional transmission on a single fiber, which not only reduces the required ports and cables by 40% compared to traditional fat-tree architectures, but also creates a new incremental market for circulators.

Second are core optical components, including MEMS arrays, collimators, and 2D lens arrays, which have very high single-machine value. Additionally, although Google currently favors MEMS solutions, it is also exploring new technical paths such as liquid crystal, piezoelectric ceramics, and silicon photonic waveguides, providing potential market entry opportunities for technology innovators in the supply chain.

The rise of OCS technology brings entirely new incremental segments to the optical communications industry chain. As other cloud service providers such as Microsoft and Meta start exploring OCS applications, Lightcounting predicts that the OCS market will grow at a compound rate of 28% between 2024 and 2029, ushering in a period of simultaneous explosion in technology and demand.

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