Bringing More Light to Scale-Up Networks: An Updated Scale-Up Primer

Research evidence excerpt

Bringing More Light to Scale-Up Networks: An Updated Scale-Up Primer

Idea

July 13, 2026 04:18 AM GMT

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLCMTechnology | North America Meta A Marshall

Equity Analyst

Bringing More Light to Scale-Up Meta.Marshall@morganstanley.comJoseph Moore +1 212 761-0430

Joseph.Moore@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-7516

Networks: An Updated Scale-Up Ella Tulchinsky

Research Associate

Ella.Tulchinsky@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-2222

Primer Antonio Jaramillo

Antonio.Jaramillo@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-4438

What’s Changed

Telecom & Networking Equipment

Keysight Technologies Inc (KEYS.N) From To

North America

Rating Equal-weight Overweight Industry View In-Line

Price Target $350.00 $400.00

The scale-up market is set to be a ~$70bn opportunity by 2030,

over 4x the size estimated a year ago, as capex and cluster sizes

grow. We explore recent debates/technology evolutions, with

conclusion being copper is likely to remain for longer, but CPO is

eventual, making recent sell-offs overdone.

Architectures in flux as scale-up network grows. As AI models grow in complexity

and scale, the demand for high-performance computing infrastructure has surged,

with $70bn+ opportunity estimated over 4x the estimate we put forth last year. The

scale-up network is critical because it allows accelerators to operate as a single

system, eliminating communication bottlenecks and enabling the scale, speed, and

efficiency required to train today’s frontier AI models. With such a large opportunity,

there are multiple different architectures being contemplated, from the

interconnect fabric (NVLink, UAL, SUE) to the transmission technology (many forms

of copper and optical interconnect). Given the concentration of buyers, adoption of