Microchip Releases XpressConnect PCIe 6.0 and CXL 3.1 Retimers for AI Data Center Connectivity

Microchip Releases XpressConnect™ PCIe® 6.0 and CXL® 3.1 Retimers to Help Solve Latency and Signal Integrity Challenges in AI Data Centers

— Supporting high-bandwidth architectures while helping reduce integration complexity, further expanding Microchip's portfolio of data center solutions

As AI workloads continue to grow, data center architecture design faces the dual constraints of limited signal transmission distance and rising latency, which can lead to underutilization of large amounts of memory resources in large GPU clusters. These challenges become increasingly prominent as interconnect speeds continue to increase. At 64 GT/s transfer rates, signal integrity bottlenecks limit system scaling and place greater burdens on server architectures. To address this, Microchip Technology Inc. has released the XpressConnect™ PCIe® 6.0 and CXL® 3.1 retimers to enable memory expansion and resource pooling for large-scale AI computing networks.

These retimers push beyond traditional PCIe 5th and 6th generation electrical limits, effectively extending signal transmission distance and providing more flexible system design space for complex backplanes, add-in cards, and cable interconnects. They deliver higher-bandwidth connectivity while meeting the stringent thermal management and power budgets required by modern AI architectures. XpressConnect retimers feature pin-to-pin latency of less than 12 ns, approximately 80% lower than the PCIe 6.0 standard. This low-latency performance helps reduce data congestion in high-density AI clusters and improves AI accelerator and GPU utilization.

Brian McCarson, Vice President and General Manager of Microchip's Data Center Solutions business unit, said: "The bottleneck in AI data centers is no longer compute power, but the ability to efficiently move data within the system. As PCIe 6.0 raises data transfer rates to 64 GT/s, signal transmission distance and latency have become critical design challenges. Our XpressConnect retimers are designed to serve as the 'high-performance nervous system' of AI servers, helping customers build more scalable and energy-efficient network architectures by reducing latency and improving connectivity among high-density GPU clusters. This system-level solution enables data center architects to reclaim underutilized resources and improve overall platform efficiency in large-scale deployments."

XpressConnect retimers further complement Microchip's data center product portfolio and can work in concert with the company's 3nm Switchtec™ PCIe Gen 6 switches, Adaptec® SmartRAID controllers, host bus adapters (HBAs), and Flashtec™ NVMe® controllers to help build pre-validated, interoperable network architectures. XpressConnect PCIe Gen 6 and CXL 3.1 retimers can integrate with PCIe Gen 3, 4, and 5 platforms as needed, helping accelerate time to market. These retimers also connect to Microchip's ChipLink diagnostic ecosystem, providing a unified graphical user interface for real-time 2D eye diagram capture and four-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) telemetry. These capabilities help data center operators monitor link health more effectively and simplify troubleshooting, reducing total cost of ownership.

As industry-standard, plug-and-play solutions, XpressConnect retimers are designed to help hyperscale operators reduce single-vendor dependency risk. These devices support flexible link bifurcation configurations (1 × 16, 2 × 8, and 4 × 4), comply with widely adopted retimer package specifications, and offer enterprise-class features such as hot-plug support and end-to-end data integrity. Visit the company website to learn more about Microchip's data center solutions for high-performance computing, storage, and connectivity.

Microchip's ChipLink diagnostic tool provides comprehensive debug, diagnostic, configuration, and analysis capabilities through an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI). ChipLink can connect via in-band PCIe or out-of-band signals such as UART, TWI, and EJTAG, enabling flexible and efficient monitoring and troubleshooting during design and deployment.

XpressConnect retimers can be purchased directly from Microchip, or by contacting your local sales representative or worldwide authorized distributor.

About Microchip Technology Inc.

Microchip Technology Inc. is a leading provider of smart, connected and secure embedded control solutions. Its easy-to-use development tools and comprehensive product portfolio enable customers to create optimal designs which reduce risk while lowering total system cost and time to market. The company's solutions serve more than 120,000 customers across the industrial, automotive, consumer, aerospace and defense, communications and computing markets. Headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, Microchip offers outstanding technical support along with dependable delivery and quality. For more information, visit the Microchip website at www.microchip.com.