PCI-SIG: Upcoming PCIe 6.0 Spec to Reach 64GT/s

PCI-SIG announced that PCI Express (PCIe) 6.0 technology will double the data rate to 64GT/s while maintaining backwards compatibility with previous generations and delivering power efficiency and cost-effective performance.

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The PCIe 6.0 specification is actively targeted for release in 2021.

PCIe 6.0 spec features:

• Delivers 64GT/s raw bit rate and up to 256GB/s via x16 configuration

• Utilizes PAM-4 (Pulse Amplitude Modulation with four levels) encoding and leverages existing 56G PAM-4 in the industry

• Includes low-latency Forward Error Correction (FEC) with additional mechanisms to improve bandwidth efficiency

• Maintains backwards compatibility with previous generations of PCIe technology

“PCIe technology has established itself as a pervasive I/O technology by sustaining bandwidth improvements for five generations over two decades,” Dennis Martin, analyst, Principled Technologies, said. “With the PCIe 6.0 specification, PCI-SIG aims to answer the demands of such hot markets as AI, ML, networking, communication systems, storage, HPC, and more.”

“Continuing the trend we set with the PCIe 5.0 specification, the PCIe 6.0 specification is on a fast timeline,” Al Yanes, chairman and president, PCI-SIG, said. “Due to the continued commitment of our member companies, we are on pace to double the bandwidth yet again in a time frame that will meet industry demand for throughput.”