PCIe 5.0 SSDs are expected to remain niche products until the second half of 2024
Phison Electronics announced at Computex 2022 that they were collaborating with AMD and Micron to build a PCIe 5.0 ecosystem, signaling the arrival of the PCIe 5.0 SSD era. Although AMD subsequently released its new AM5 platform, which includes PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots on many motherboards, PCIe 5.0 SSDs are still scarce in the market. One PCIe 5.0 SSD that is available in the Chinese market is Gigabyte’s AORUS Gen5 10000 series, although it is not cheap.
According to DigiTimes, Phison CEO Pua Khein Seng expects that PCIe 5.0 SSDs will remain a niche product for about a year, with the storage market still dominated by PCIe 4.0 SSDs. It may not be until the second half of 2024 that PCIe 5.0 SSDs are widely promoted.
Many PCIe 4.0 SSDs on the market can achieve data transfer speeds of up to 7GB/s, which is sufficient for many users. Although some high-end PCIe 5.0 SSDs can double the speed, the price difference is significant, and the actual performance difference is not that great. For some budget-conscious users, even PCIe 3.0 SSDs can meet their needs, and they don’t even need to purchase PCIe 4.0 SSDs.
As market demand declines and inventory levels remain high, SSD manufacturers have become cautious, especially considering the negative economic factors that may affect the market in the near future. The transition to PCIe 5.0 SSDs has clearly slowed down. However, some manufacturers may choose to use PCIe 5.0 SSDs as the main selling point for their high-end products. For example, MSI has introduced PCIe 5.0 SSDs into its high-end gaming laptops.
The slower pace of manufacturers’ updates and upgrades is not necessarily a bad thing. Some PCIe 5.0 SSDs generate a lot of heat, so SSD manufacturers are equipping them with larger heat sinks and even active cooling designs. It is reported that Phison Electronics plans to manufacture its new PCIe 5.0 SSD controller chip using 7nm technology. When PCIe 5.0 SSDs really begin to become popular, the products on the market may not be as hot.
