SuperSpeed USB or USB 3.0 Announcement Shakes Up USB Market

2008 is a banner year for the high-speed universal serial bus (USB) market. The most significant development over the past year in the USB market has been the announcement of SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0), the third major revision of the wired USB specification, according to In-Stat research, Wired USB 2008: SuperSpeed is Coming (#IN0804102MI). In addition, high-speed USB devices will surpass shipments of low- and full-speed USB-enabled devices for the first time.

SuperSpeed is expected to deliver actual throughput of 3 gigabits per second (Gbps), a rate significantly higher than that of high-speed USB.

“SuperSpeed USB is expected to begin shipping as discrete silicon in 2009, and broad deployment of SuperSpeed USB-enabled products is expected in 2010,” says Brian O’Rourke, In-Stat analyst. “SuperSpeed USB will be targeted initially at the PC market and in devices requiring high rates and volumes of data transfer, such as external storage, CE, and communications devices with increasing amounts of storage.”

Products incorporating SuperSpeed USB are expected to arrive on the market in late 2009, and shipments of SuperSpeed USB-enabled products are expected to multiply twenty-fold by 2012.

Recent research by In-Stat also found the following:

• More than 2.6 billion USB-enabled devices shipped in 2007.
• Annual shipment growth of USB-enabled devices through 2012 will be 8.3%.