Xockets rockets Nvidia: Blackwell debut threatened by DPU patent claims

Nvidia is embroiled in an antitrust'n'patent lawsuit, which alleges the GPU giant colluded with Microsoft and the intellectual property risk management firm RPX to rip off the data processing unit (DPU) developer Xockets' designs.

The case [6:24-cv-453], filed in the western federal district of Texas — a haven for patent suits in America — accuses the trio of violating federal antitrust laws, participating in monopolistic behavior to avoid paying Xockets its due, and knowingly infringing its patents.

In addition to monetary damages, Xockets is also seeking an injunction which, if granted, would prohibit the release of Nvidia's upcoming Blackwell platform.

The intellectual property in question refers to a series of patents for DPU technologies filed by Xockets founder Parin Dalal beginning in 2012. At a high level, they describe architectures for "offloading, accelerating, and isolating data-intensive computing operations from server processors" at line speeds.

"Nvidia's use of Xockets' patented DPU technology has allowed Nvidia to monopolize the field of GPU-enabled AI servers and Microsoft to monopolize the field of GPU-enabled AI platforms — and is critical to their success and market capitalization," Xockets alleged this week. "Xockets has made every effort to engage Nvidia and Microsoft in good faith negotiations, but those efforts have been rebuffed."

The patents in question encompass a variety of applications, including cloud, machine learning, security, network overlays, streaming data processing, and cloud fabrics. Xockets says Microsoft, as well as Mellanox — later acquired by Nvidia in 2020 — knowingly ripped off these blueprints.

The suit claims that Xockets actually presented its technology to Microsoft in 2016, and the technology was then adopted by Mellanox without its knowledge that same year for cloud offload use by Redmond and other customers.

Xockets alleges three distinct technologies that are key to scaling large clusters of GPUs for AI training and inference deployments infringe its patents. They include Nvidia's ConnectX smartNICs, BlueField DPUs, and NVLink switch. If you're not familiar, ConnectX and BlueField are used in scale-out networks, while NVLink switch is employed in scale-up networks as we see in Nvidia's NVL72 rack-scale platform.

"All are based on Xockets' patented architectures," the DPU outfit claims.

Nvidia declined to comment on this story, and we suspect their lawyers are likely to argue that Xockets' patents are invalid. Going off the loosest definition of DPUs, the technology's roots date back decades to developments like the integration of TCP offload engines, programmable packet processing, and compression and cryptographic accelerators into NICs and other networking equipment.

But hey, what do we know? Xockets might be onto something.

• Pat Gelsinger's grand plan to reinvent Intel is in jeopardy
• Qualcomm reportedly eyeing Intel's PC design biz and more
• Competition watchdog accuses Google of abusing ad dominance
• Datacenters to emit 3x more carbon dioxide because of generative AI

Microsoft and Nvidia may not be Xockets' only target, just the most lucrative. Broadcom, Intel, AMD, Marvell, Napatech, and Amazon are just a handful of the companies actively developing products similar to Nvidia's ConnectX, BlueField, and NVLink. That's assuming, of course, that they haven't already licensed the tech.

Xockets' spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. However, The Register was informed that, on Friday, the judge overseeing the case had granted an expedited hearing for a preliminary injunction set for September 19. ®