Specifications
Product
Credo Blue Heron 224G multiprotocol retimer
Launch
January 2026
Per-Lane Rate
224 Gb/s class (200G PAM4 generation)
Protocol Support
UALink, ESUN and Ethernet simultaneously
Why Multiprotocol
One retimer part serves accelerator, scale-up and Ethernet fabrics
Ecosystem Endorsement
AMD and Upscale AI
Function
Signal retiming and reach extension for high-speed electrical links
Use In Accelerator Fabrics
Scale-up links between accelerators where optical is impractical
Use In Ethernet Fabrics
Copper reach extension for switch-to-NIC and switch-to-switch
Vendor Focus
AECs, optical DSPs and SerDes IP
Sibling Product
Credo Bluebird 1.6T optical / AEC DSP (ramped September 2025)
Signal Integrity
Equalisation and retiming that restores margin on long PCB traces and cables
Deployment Form
Retimer silicon inside AECs, retimed cables and switch/accelerator boards
Standards Context
UALink and ESUN are open accelerator-interconnect efforts; the retimer lets one board support both without protocol-specific hardware
Application
AI scale-up and scale-out copper interconnect
Availability
In production — quote for allocation
Overview
The Credo Blue Heron is a 224G-per-lane retimer that speaks UALink, ESUN and Ethernet at the same time. Launched in January 2026 and endorsed by AMD and Upscale AI, it addresses a specific problem the AI hardware market created for itself: multiple competing accelerator-interconnect standards, each with its own electrical requirements, arriving in the same generation.
A multiprotocol retimer means a board, cable or switch design does not have to commit to one protocol at the silicon level. The same component can be populated on an UALink scale-up link, an ESUN link and an Ethernet link, which reduces the number of hardware variants a platform vendor has to qualify and stock in an environment where standards are still settling.
As accelerator domains grow past the point where a single passive copper span closes, the retimer layer becomes the practical enabler for keeping those links electrical rather than optical. QS Compute supplies Credo retimer-based cables and boards alongside the wider 224G and 1.6T interconnect portfolio.
Key Benefits
One part, three protocols cuts the number of hardware variants a platform must qualify. 224G per lane supports the current 200G PAM4 generation with margin. Ecosystem endorsement from AMD de-risks the accelerator link decision, and pairing with Bluebird covers the optical and copper sides of the same fabric from one vendor.
Applications
Accelerator scale-up links in multichip domains; ESUN and UALink evaluation platforms; switch-to-NIC copper reach extension; and any board design that needs to support more than one interconnect protocol without a silicon respin.
Request a Quote — CREDO BLUE HERON 224G RETIMER — UALINK / ESUN / ETHERNET MULTIPROTOCOL
QS Compute — global B2B supply of AI computing hardware, edge AI systems and accelerators. Volume pricing, 15-day sample lead time.
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