Microchip Announces World's First PCI Express 5.0 Switch to Accelerate Machine Learning and Hyperscale Computing Infrastructure

     Applications such as data analytics, autonomous driving, and medical diagnostics have created a huge demand for machine learning and hyperscale computing infrastructure. To meet this demand, Microchip Technology Inc. recently announced the launch of the Switchtec PFX PCIe 5.0 series, the world's first PCI Express (PCIe) 5.0 switch solution that integrates intensive computing, high-speed network Double the interconnect performance with NVM Express (NVMe) storage. Together with XpressConnect retimers, Microchip is the only vendor in the industry to offer both PCIe Gen 5 (Gen 5) switches and PCIe Gen 5 (Gen 5) retimers, providing customers with a full PCIe generation with proven interoperability Fifth generation infrastructure solutions.

     "Accelerators, graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs) and high-speed network adapters are driving the need for higher performance PCIe infrastructure," said Andrew Dieckmann, vice president of marketing and applications engineering for Microchip's Data Center Solutions business unit. Continued growth. The world's first PCIe 5.0 switch from Microchip doubles the link rate of the fourth-generation PCIe interconnect to 32 GT/s to support more demanding next-generation machine learning platforms. Coupled with our With the XpressConnect family of retimer products such as PCIe 5.0 and Compute Express Link™ (CXL™) 1.1/2.0, Microchip offers the industry's broadest portfolio of PCIe Gen 5 infrastructure solutions for ultra-low latency and end-to-end interoperability .

     The Switchtec PFX PCIe 5.0 switch family consists of high-density, high-reliability switches that support 28 to 100 lanes and up to 48 non-transparent bridges (NTB). These products feature high reliability features such as hot-plug, non-hot-plug, and secure boot authentication. With PCIe 5.0's data rate of 32 GT/s, signal integrity and complex system topologies pose great challenges to system development and debugging. To speed time to market, Switchtec PFX PCIe 5.0 switches offer a comprehensive set of debug and diagnostic capabilities, including a sophisticated internal PCIe analyzer supporting Transaction Layer Packet (TLP) generation and analysis, as well as a non-intrusive SerDes eye configured on-chip Image capture function. Switchtec PFX PCIe 5.0 switches are also configured with ChipLink, an intuitive GUI-based device configuration and topology viewer that provides full access to PFX PCIe switches' registers, counters, diagnostics and forensic capture for fast system speed Start and debug.

     "Intel's upcoming Sapphire Rapids Xeon processors will feature PCI Express 5.0 and Compute Express Link running at speeds up to 32.0 GT/s, providing customers with the ability to deploy required low latency and high bandwidth I/O solutions. We are excited to see Microchip’s PCIe 5.0 switches and retimers strengthen our ecosystem and drive wider deployment of PCIe 5.0 and CXL solutions.”