The team behind the PCI Express standard, PCI-SIG, has now put out the full details for PCI Express 7.0. This new update offers very fast data speeds and, for the first time, uses fiber optics to boost the speed of devices that are linked.
PCI Express 7.0 aims to show off strong speed, with a data rate of 128 gigatransfers per second (GT/s). In a usual x16 setup, this means a huge bandwidth of up to 512 gigabytes per second (GB/s) in both ways. It reaches this using the PAM4 tech found in PCIe 6.0.
Yet, we need to wait a while. Devices with PCIe 7.0 are set to start tests in 2027, and products will likely hit the market in 2028 or later.
With PCIe 7.0, a new spec called the Optical Aware Retimer Engineering Change Notice was revealed. It helps PCIe 6.4 and PCIe 7.0 use fiber with a retimer-based way. This is a big move, the first time this tech is used for PCIe.
This fiber fix is made for tough spots like AI computing, cloud work, and big data centers where fast, far data moving is key.
There's no sure news on PCI Express 8.0 yet, but early guesses say it might hit speeds of up to 1 terabyte per second (TB/s). If true, that would mark a big moment for the PCI Express rule, but for now, it's just talk.
