PCIe® 6.0 Specification Released to Members: Double the Bandwidth for Next-Generation Applications

  • Posted on: 11 January 2022
  • By Al Yanes, PCI-SIG President and Board Chair

We are pleased to commence 2022 on a high note with the official release of the PCI Express® (PCIe®) 6.0 specification to members. The new specification comes less than three years after the announcement of the PCIe 5.0 specification and delivers on PCI-SIG’s® promise to double the bandwidth with each specification release.  This next step in the evolution of PCIe 6.0 technology benefits data-intensive markets like High Performance Computing (HPC), Data Center, Edge, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), Automotive, Internet of Things (IoT) and Military/Aerospace and further strengthens PCI Express as the defacto interconnect for high-speed interfaces.

The key benefits of the PCIe 6.0 specification include:

  1. Double the Bandwidth: Increases the data rate to 64 GT/s, doubling the data rate of the PCIe 5.0 specification and providing a maximum bidirectional bandwidth of up to 256 GB/s for x16 lanes
  2. Low Latency: Utilizes fixed-size Flow Control Unit (Flit)-based encoding, which allows the use of a lightweight Forward Error Correction (FEC) with Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 4 levels (PAM4) signaling and a strong cyclic redundancy check (CRC) – with no impact to latency
  3. Backwards Compatibility: Maintains compatibility with all previous PCIe technology generations, protecting customer investments and supporting connectivity to millions of existing products

Review the PCIe 6.0 Specification Resources

PCI-SIG has compiled a series of educational resources to make it easy to learn about the PCIe 6.0 specification. Watch the animated video or view the infographic for an overview of the PCIe 6.0 specification features and industry benefits.

Want to dive deeper? Watch the PCIe 6.0 specification webinar for more technical details or explore the FAQ. These resources and more can be found on the PCIe 6.0 specification landing page on our website.