Silicon Motion preps PCI Express 5.0 SSD controller for 2022

Solid state disks are about to get a lot faster in the coming years as firms are working on the first PCI Express 5.0 controllers. Silicon Motion revealed it will start sampling enterprise-class PCI Express 5.0 controllers in 2022. Controllers that utilize the PCI Express 5.0 interface will potentially be able to achieve a bandwidth of up to 16GB/s.

The first PCI Express 5.0 platforms are expected later this year. The first consumer chip with PCI Express 5.0 support may be the Intel Alder Lake generation, which is expected later this year.

"With our new PCIe Gen5 enterprise SSD controllers sampling in the second half of next year, we are not expecting our enterprise SSD controller to be a material contributor to our $1 billion sales objective," said Wallace Kuo, chief executive of Silicon Motion, during a conference call with analysts and investors (via The Motley Fool). "We are planning on material enterprise SSD controller sales contribution only after 2023."