Posted on Thursday, November 15 2012 @ 12:04 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
It doesn't really come as a surprise, but a new report by DigiTimes
reveals that only about 10 percent of notebooks and desktop motherboards are equipped with Intel's Thunderbolt technology. The main reason is of course the high price, Intel's Thunderbolt controller costs a whopping $20, while USB 3.0 controller chips go for $0.50 to $0.80 these days.
Currently, the controller chip for Thunderbolt technology costs about US$20, a lot higher than the US$0.50-0.80 for USB 3.0 controller chips; therefore, most first-tier notebook and motherboard vendors only adopt the technology in their high-end flagship products.
Since consumers also do not yet have much demand for Thunderbolt-related products and the supply chain for the technology is not yet formed, most accessory and PC vendors are conservative about designing products using the technology.
Currently, Thunderbolt is mainly used by Apple's products and the technology is unlikely to have a chance to standardize until 2014 when costs will drop to an acceptable level.
