Wednesday, June 11th 2025
PCI-SIG Releases PCIe 7.0 Specification to Support 128.0 GT/s Transfer Rates
PCI-SIG today announced the official release of the PCI Express (PCIe) 7.0 specification, reaching 128.0 GT/s, to members. PCIe 7.0 specification targets data-driven applications like AI/ML, 800G Ethernet, cloud, and Quantum computing. Pathfinding for the PCIe 8.0 specification is already in progress to continue supporting the industry's investments and product roadmaps in the PCIe technology ecosystem.
PCIe 7.0 Specification Features
"PCIe technology has served as the high-bandwidth, low-latency IO interconnect of choice for over two decades and we are pleased to announce the release of the PCIe 7.0 specification, which continues our long-standing tradition of doubling the IO bandwidth every three years," said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG President and Chairperson. "As artificial intelligence applications continue to scale rapidly, the next generation of PCIe technology meets the bandwidth demands of data-intensive markets deploying AI, including hyperscale data centers, high performance computing (HPC), automotive and military/aerospace."
"It's a special occasion when a PCIe specification hits the final version," observed Ian Cutress, Chief Analyst and CEO, More Than Moore. "The rise in the demand for both compute and networking, enabled through PCIe technology, is at an all-time high, despite the complexities of creating standards in the industry around high-speed signaling. Datacenters are ready to start deploying networks built on PCIe 7.0 technology, and almost every ASIC company I talk to is already engaged with the IP providers and are set to take advantage. Even with the popularity and focus that went into PCIe 6.0 deployment, the PCIe 7.0 specification has more enthusiasm than any previous version."
Source:
PCI-SIG
PCIe 7.0 Specification Features
- Delivers 128.0 GT/s raw bit rate and up to 512 GB/s bi-directionally via x16 configuration
- Utilizes PAM4 (Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 4 levels) signaling and Flit-based encoding
- Provides improved power efficiency
- Maintains backwards compatibility with previous generations of PCIe technology
"It's a special occasion when a PCIe specification hits the final version," observed Ian Cutress, Chief Analyst and CEO, More Than Moore. "The rise in the demand for both compute and networking, enabled through PCIe technology, is at an all-time high, despite the complexities of creating standards in the industry around high-speed signaling. Datacenters are ready to start deploying networks built on PCIe 7.0 technology, and almost every ASIC company I talk to is already engaged with the IP providers and are set to take advantage. Even with the popularity and focus that went into PCIe 6.0 deployment, the PCIe 7.0 specification has more enthusiasm than any previous version."
43 Comments on PCI-SIG Releases PCIe 7.0 Specification to Support 128.0 GT/s Transfer Rates
(I remembered after posting this gif that you're not supposed to just post a gif or picture as a reply without some kind of comment)...well...cool. I haven't even seen PCIe 6 in the world yet, but now we have 7.0. I guess they have to release the spec before we can use it, but it sometimes seems wild when we're not even utilizing a couple gens ago in the mainstream.
Isn't PCIE 4, at 4 lanes, 8GB/s?
www.techpowerup.com/334714/marvell-demonstrates-industrys-first-end-to-end-pcie-gen-6-over-optics-at-ofc-2025
www.techpowerup.com/334337/nvidia-commercializes-silicon-photonics-with-infiniband-and-ethernet-switches
www.techpowerup.com/332829/stmicroelectronics-enhances-optical-interconnects-for-faster-ai-and-cloud-datacenters
www.techpowerup.com/334861/ayar-labs-unveils-worlds-first-ucie-optical-chiplet-for-ai-scale-up-architectures
So I did, & she didn't, so all is good here, hehehehe :D
As for my cowerkers, I can just say "F" them, since I work remotely, I don't really give a rat's ass what they say about me around the office, cause I know NONE of them have the balls to say anything to my face, which they only see like once every 45-60 days, and they know I would fire their collective asses in a friggin heartbeat if they did say something stupid to me !
But back on topic.......yeehaw to the pci-e folks, now gimme v12 or gimme death..:roll:
But no word on how PCI-SIGs Optical Aware Retimer Engineering Change Notice (ECN) amends the PCIe 6.4 specification and the new PCIe 7.0 specification to include a PCIe (optical) retimer-based solution.
Might not be important for consumers.... but we will see.... Maybe fibre on the mainboard would be cheaper for the end consumer too, if too many standard retimers need to be included to warrant a clean signaling across the mainboard.
"The PCI-SIG Optical Work Group is exploring an optical interconnect supporting a wide range of optical technologies to make PCIe architecture more optical friendly. Additional information will be available soon." via PCI-SIG pcisig.com/faq?field_category_value%5B%5D=pci_express_7.0&keys=
The cadence for new PCIe revisions has been shortening over time.
- 4.0 had its preliminary spec in 2011, final spec in 2017, and first products making use of it in 2017~2018.
- 5.0 had its preliminary spec in 2017, final spec in 2019, and the first devices in 2020.
- 6.0 had its preliminary spec in 2020, final spec in 2022, and the first devices are finally appearing this year. Blackwell in theory is PCIe 6.0 capable, but afaik the certification for that is not available yet.
- 7.0 had its preliminary spec in 2024, and we're seeing the final spec now, so I assume we will only be seeing devices on top of it by 2027 or so.
Enterprise adoption for 6.0 should happen plenty fast once the certifications are finally available, and hopefully 7.0 shouldn't take as long to become a thing.
A.I isn't going to become sentient and purge the world if the engineers aren't zealous like that