Silicon Motion's PCIe 6.0 SSD roadmap follows Nvidia's AI push, not AMD or Intel's client plans

SSD controller maker Silicon Motion says its consumer PCIe 6.0 roadmap is driven by Nvidia, not by AMD and Intel -- RTX Spark agentic AI platform fuels a hunger for storage bandwidth

But the company is only releasing enterprise-grade PCIe 6.0 SSDs this year. 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 6 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." For more details, check out the whole interview with Nelson Duann on Tom's Hardware. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.

Silicon Motion's PCIe 6.0 SSD Controller Lands Next Year, But AI Data Centers Could Devour 80% Of NAND by 2027

Things are even worse in the storage market, and despite Silicon Motion's target to bring the next-gen PCIe controller next year, worse market conditions are expected. Silicon Motion Plans to Bring PCIe 6.0 SSD Controller Next Year, But Growing Demand From AI Data Centers May Keep Storage Drive Prices Elevated Beyond 2027 The DRAM and storage market has been incredibly impacted due to the AI boom, which has diverted all resources towards AI data centers and servers. It has been over six months since the RAMpocalypse started, but the prices for RAM and SSDs haven't stabilized yet, and it's expected that the situation will continue to worsen in the next year. According to a recent interview with Silicon Motion's Senior VP, Nelson Duann, Tom's Hardware reports that the company is preparing its first consumer PCIe 6.0 SSD controller for launch next year. This is even though the industry braces for a worsening NAND shortage that is driven by AI demand. The next-gen controller, codenamed Neptune, is expected to power upcoming consumer SSDs that take advantage of the PCIe 6.0 interface, which will double the bandwidth of the storage drives compared to PCIe 5.0 drives. However, these faster SSDs may arrive at a time when the NAND flash memory will become increasingly difficult to source. Duann expects that the situation will worsen over the next few years, estimating that as much as 70-80% of NAND output will be allocated to data centers by 2027. As a result, the consumer SSD market will face tighter supply and higher prices than currently, making it more difficult to build PCs and also increasing the prices of consumer electronics. As we see shrinking demand for retail SSDs due to higher prices and lower availability, Silicon Motion is still benefiting. As more OEMs are turning towards independent SSD manufacturers, demand for third-party controllers has increased. This is why the company reported strong growth across its controller business, mostly driven by enterprise SSDs, PCIe 5.0 client drives, and UFS storage for smartphones. As far as the PCIe 6.0 controller is concerned, it's expected to double the bandwidth PCIe 5.0 offers, and Duann indicated that the company is evaluating eight-channel controller designs for consumer SSDs. However, the enterprise PCIe 6.0 solutions will utilize 16-channel architectures for maximum throughput. That said, despite having the fastest storage solutions in the market, consumers will likely have to pay a premium for these storage drives, as the enterprise market will continue to gobble up a larger share of the global NAND production. Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.