Broadcom Extends PCIe Industry Leadership with End-to-End Gen 6 Portfolio for AI Infrastructure

Rhea-AI Summary

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) has announced the availability of its complete PCIe Gen 6 portfolio, marking a significant advancement in AI infrastructure solutions. The company has launched its PCIe Gen 6 Interop Development Platform (IDP) for early access customers, designed to simplify interoperability and system design through advanced telemetry and diagnostics.

In collaboration with Micron and Teledyne LeCroy, Broadcom has successfully tested its high-port switch and retimer for interoperability and compliance. The portfolio features in-house SerDes technology, extended reach capabilities, lower power dissipation, and simplified end-to-end management.

The announcement represents a important milestone in the transition from PCIe Gen 5 to Gen 6, addressing the growing demand for reliable components in next-generation AI systems. Major AI industry players, including hyperscalers and system ODM/OEMs, are now designing next-gen AI rack solutions based on Broadcom's PCIe Gen 6 connectivity portfolio.

Positive

• Early market entry with complete PCIe Gen 6 portfolio
• Successful interoperability testing with industry partners
• Strong positioning in AI infrastructure market
• In-house SerDes technology development

Negative

• None.

Insights

Financial Analyst

Broadcom's announcement of its end-to-end PCIe Gen 6 portfolio represents a strategic advancement in the company's semiconductor business that directly targets the high-growth AI infrastructure market. This development carries significant implications for Broadcom's competitive positioning and financial trajectory.

The PCIe Gen 6 standard doubles the data transfer rate to 64 GT/s from Gen 5's 32 GT/s, creating a critical foundation for next-generation AI systems that require massive data throughput. By making its Interop Development Platform available early and successfully testing with partners like Micron and Teledyne LeCroy, Broadcom is establishing itself as the de facto connectivity standard for advanced AI clusters—a position that typically translates to premium pricing power and sustained market share.

What's particularly valuable here is Broadcom's leverage of its proprietary SerDes technology across multiple product lines, including custom XPUs. This cross-portfolio integration creates technical synergies that both reduce development costs and raise switching costs for customers, reinforcing Broadcom's traditionally strong 55-60% gross margins in its semiconductor segments.

For investors, this announcement reinforces Broadcom's dual-track strategy: maintaining leadership in critical semiconductor components while expanding its software business. The company's ability to remain at the cutting edge of connectivity solutions provides a stable cash flow engine that supports both dividend payments and strategic acquisitions.

The timing is particularly advantageous as hyperscalers and OEMs design next-generation AI infrastructure. By securing design wins now for technology that will be deployed over the next 2-3 years, Broadcom is effectively locking in a revenue stream that should materialize as AI infrastructure spending accelerates. This positions the company to capture value from the estimated $50+ billion market for AI-related semiconductors expected by 2027.

While this announcement won't immediately impact quarterly results, it strengthens Broadcom's long-term competitive moat in high-performance computing—a critical factor supporting the company's premium valuation multiple relative to semiconductor peers.

Interop Development Platform Now in Production; High-port Switch and Retimer Successfully Tested for Interop and Compliance

PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 25, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) today announced availability of its end-to-end PCIe Gen 6 portfolio. Broadcom has further extended its multi-generational PCIe leadership by allowing early access to its PCIe Gen 6 Interop Development Platform (IDP), which simplifies interoperability and system design with its advanced telemetry and diagnostics capabilities. Broadcom, in collaboration with Micron and Teledyne LeCroy, also successfully tested its high-port switch and retimer for interoperability and compliance enablement to empower open AI infrastructure solutions.

“Broadcom’s commitment to the open ecosystem has strengthened over six generations and we are now pleased to offer our new PCIe Gen 6 products to early access customers,” said Jas Tremblay, vice president and general manager, Data Center Solutions Group, Broadcom. “The transition from PCIe Gen 5 to Gen 6 has been monumental given the accelerated need for trusted and reliable building blocks in next-gen AI systems. Broadcom’s PCIe Gen 6 switch, retimer and IDP will empower our partners to successfully deploy open, scalable AI clusters.”

“PCIe 6 switches and retimers are critical high-performance building blocks required to power advanced AI solutions. The standards-based approach, if ably complemented by nifty architecture and seamless interoperability, paves the way for open, scalable AI infrastructure,” said Patrick Moorhead, founder, chief executive officer, and chief analyst, Moor Insights & Strategy. “Broadcom is showing that it is leading the transition from PCIe 5 to PCIe 6 at scale with its unique approach of making its interoperability development platform available early and working with leading ecosystem partners to deliver a robust, thoroughly tested, compliant PCIe 6 portfolio.”

The AI industry, including hyperscalers and system ODM/OEMs, is now designing next-generation AI rack solutions based on the Broadcom PCIe Gen 6 connectivity portfolio. The Broadcom connectivity portfolio utilizes its in-house SerDes, which is also used in custom XPUs. Additionally, the design features include extended reach, lower power dissipation, and simplified interop and end-to-end management. Together, this ensures that the open AI infrastructure ecosystem is powered by scalable and power efficient interconnect solutions.

By collaborating with PCIe industry leaders like Micron and Teledyne LeCroy for early enablement and testing, Broadcom assures customers of fully validated PCIe Gen 6 building blocks to meet the rigorous demands of AI platforms and workloads.

• Broadcom and Teledyne LeCroy have joined forces to provide the AI infrastructure ecosystem with a solid, reliable base for PCIe testing. Their deep collaboration and commitment has resulted in the enablement of compliance testing across a cutting-edge PCIe portfolio featuring their robust protocol analyzer/exerciser and PCIe switch.
• Micron is the first to develop PCIe Gen 6 NVMe SSD technology for ecosystem enablement. To advance this effort, the company collaborated with Broadcom and Teledyne LeCroy by providing an ultra-high-performance storage solution for testing. The tests validated functionality for a Gen 6 ecosystem comprised of switches, retimers, NVMe SSDs and protocol analyzers.
• At the PCI-SIG Developers Conference, all three companies successfully demonstrated PCIe 6.x interoperability and early compliance tests on their Gen 6 solutions marking a significant milestone as key PCIe Gen 6 ecosystem enablers become equipped to power AI innovations.

For more information on Broadcom’s PCIe Gen 6 solutions please click here.

About Broadcom
Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO) is a global technology leader that designs, develops, and supplies a broad range of semiconductor, enterprise software and security solutions. Broadcom's category-leading product portfolio serves critical markets including cloud, data center, networking, broadband, wireless, storage, industrial, and enterprise software. Our solutions include service provider and enterprise networking and storage, mobile device and broadband connectivity, mainframe, cybersecurity, and private and hybrid cloud infrastructure. Broadcom is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, CA. For more information, go to www.broadcom.com.

Broadcom, the pulse logo, and Connecting everything are among the trademarks of Broadcom. The term "Broadcom" refers to Broadcom Inc., and/or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Press Contact:
Jon Piazza
Global Communications
press.relations@broadcom.com
Telephone: +1 310 498 5254

Industry Quotes

Jeremy Werner, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Storage Business, Micron
“Micron leads the industry with the first high-performance PCIe Gen 6 NVMe SSD. Combined with Broadcom’s high-port switch, our SSDs serve as a critical building block for PCIe Gen 6 AI storage. Our successful interoperability testing with Broadcom and Teledyne LeCroy is evidence of the industry’s rapid transition towards a robust end-to-end PCIe Gen 6 portfolio capable of taking AI performance to the next level.”

Joe Mendolia, Vice President of Marketing, Protocol Solutions Group, Teledyne LeCroy
“Teledyne LeCroy is proud that our early collaboration with Broadcom, leveraging our Summit M616 and M64 Protocol Analyzers and Exercisers and Broadcom’s PCIe switch portfolio, has led to the industry’s first PCIe 6.x interoperability and compliance testing development. Early access to cutting-edge technologies like the Broadcom PCIe Gen 6 IDP has enabled us to ensure that our Protocol Analyzers and Exercisers meet the evolving demands of today’s PCIe developers.”

FAQ

What are the key features of Broadcom's new PCIe Gen 6 portfolio announced in February 2025?

The portfolio includes an Interop Development Platform (IDP), high-port switch, and retimer, featuring in-house SerDes technology, extended reach, lower power dissipation, and simplified interoperability management.

How is Broadcom AVGO collaborating with other companies for PCIe Gen 6 development?

Broadcom is working with Micron and Teledyne LeCroy for early enablement, testing, and validation of PCIe Gen 6 components, ensuring compliance and interoperability for AI platforms.

What impact will Broadcom's PCIe Gen 6 portfolio have on AI infrastructure?

The portfolio enables open, scalable AI clusters with trusted building blocks for next-gen AI systems, allowing hyperscalers and ODM/OEMs to design advanced AI rack solutions.

What testing milestones has Broadcom AVGO achieved for its PCIe Gen 6 solutions?

Broadcom, Micron, and Teledyne LeCroy successfully demonstrated PCIe 6.x interoperability and early compliance tests at the PCI-SIG Developers Conference.