Intel Launches the Thunderbolt 5 Connectivity Standard, Promising Up to 120Gb/s Bandwidth
Offering 80Gb/s bidirectional or 120Gb/s unidirectional bandwidth, the new Thunderbolt 5 standard stretches the possibilities of USB Type-C.
Intel has announced the next iteration of the Thunderbolt connectivity standard, dubbed Thunderbolt 5 — and promising up to three times the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4, pushing up to 120Gb/s through USB Type-C connectors at its peak.
"Thunderbolt 5 will provide industry-leading performance and capability for connecting computers to monitors, docks, storage, and more," claims Intel's Jason Ziller of the launch. "Intel is excited to continue our tradition of leadership for wired connectivity solutions. Thunderbolt is now the mainstream port for connectivity on mobile PCs, and delivering the next generation of performance with Thunderbolt 5 will provide even more capability for the most demanding users."
The Thunderbolt standard, developed by Intel in partnership with Apple, launched in 2011 as a new high-speed connection standard which combined PCI Express and DisplayPort with optional DC power. Despite a technical superiority to the ubiquitous USB standard, though, Thunderbolt struggled to make inroads in the market — in no way aided by the USB Implementers Forum refusing to allow for dual-mode Thunderbolt/USB ports. Thunderbolt 3 resolved this, offering USB Type-C connectors — and it's these connectors which can now play host to Thunderbolt 5.
According to Intel, Thunderbolt 5 — when paired with suitable cables and a compatible device — can push 80Gb/s of bidirectional bandwidth through a USB Type-C connector using the USB4 V2 standard, for connection to external devices like solid-state storage and machine learning accelerators. This can be increased up to a unidirectional 120Gb/s with what the company calls "Bandwidth Boost," designed for connection to high-resolution and high-refresh rate monitors.
The standard has also been updated to include DisplayPort 2.1 and PCI Express Gen. 4 connectivity, along with USB4 V2, with a revised Thunderbolt Networking feature doubling the bandwidth for PC-to-PC connections. Thunderbolt 5 additionally makes use of PAM-3 signalling, which Intel credits for the bandwidth boost over the previous generation without needing new circuit board production methods — and delivering full performance over passive cables up to 1m (around 3.28 feet) in length.
Intel has not yet indicated when the first devices with Thunderbolt 5 support will hit the market.