(Image credit: Micron)
Silicon Motion is aligning its plans for PCIe 6.0 SSD controllers for client systems with Nvidia's roadmaps rather than those of AMD and Intel, client VP Nelson Duann said in an interview with Tom's Hardware. The company expects its PCIe Gen6 platform for solid-state drives to emerge sometimes in late 2027, though its adoption by high-volume platforms will take some time."Our current plan is [to launch client-grade PCIe Gen6 SSD platform] the end of next year," said Duann, senior vice president of client & automotive storage business unit at Silicon Motion, during the interview. "We are not pushing client PCIe Gen6 because of Intel or AMD CPUs. We are pushing it because of Nvidia. Nvidia is moving into the client side as well, and you can sense that from its [Computex] keynote. Nvidia's processors are power-hungry and data-hungry, so our client-side PCIe Gen6 roadmap is driven by Nvidia, not Intel or AMD."Solid-state drives with a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface have been around for about 3.5 years now, so many enthusiasts are eager to move on to SSDs with a PCIe 6.0 x4 interface just because they always want more performance. But while there is one PCIe Gen6 drive model on the market — the Micron 9650 — there are no consumer-oriented platforms that support the latest interface.In fact, AMD's 6th Generation Epyc 'Venice' and Nvidia's Vera Rubin will be the only data center CPU platforms to support PCIe 6.0 this year. The broader industry will still be able to take advantage of the next-generation interconnect this year, thanks to switches from companies like Astera Labs, but its adoption will be relatively limited in 2026.Because PCIe 6.x is challenging and expensive to implement, AMD and Intel are not exactly in a hurry to launch their PCIe Gen6 platforms for client systems, which is why Silicon Motion is trying to align its roadmap with that of Nvidia, which may be more eager to offer a client-grade PCIe 6.0 platform sooner rather than later. With GB10 and future RTX Spark chips, Nvidia is touting bandwidth-hungry AI applications, so using PCIe 6.0 x4 SSDs may make sense for the company.When it comes to enterprise-grade SSD controllers with a PCIe Gen 6.0 interface, Silicon Motion expects its SM8466 platform with 16 NAND channels to emerge this year, which will be in line with the arrival of AMD's Epyc 'Venice' and Nvidia's Vera Rubin CPUs. In fact, Nvidia's SCADA GPU-accelerated storage system is designed to use PCIe 6.0 storage devices."The SM8466 is coming this year, client PCIe Gen6 is planned for next year," Duann said. "We are not rushing to bring client PCIe Gen6 out this year."Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.For more details, check out the whole interview with Nelson Duann on Tom's Hardware.
