PCI-SIG is currently investigating the use of an optical interconnect to enhance the performance of PCIe technology.

PCI-SIG has announced the creation of a new workgroup dedicated to bringing PCI Express (PCIe) technology to optical connections. The PCI-SIG Optical Workgroup aims to support a wide range of optical technologies while potentially developing specific form factors for these technologies.

"Optical connections will be a significant advancement for PCIe architecture, offering higher performance, lower power consumption, extended reach, and reduced latency," said Nathan Brookwood, Research Fellow at Insight 64. "Industries such as Cloud and Quantum Computing, Hyperscale Data Centers, and High-Performance Computing that require high data demands will benefit greatly from PCIe architecture utilizing optical connections."

PCI-SIG President and Chairperson Al Yanes stated, "We have received considerable interest from the industry to expand the reach of the established, power-efficient PCIe technology standard by enabling optical connections between applications. PCI-SIG welcomes input from the industry and invites all PCI-SIG members to join the Optical Workgroup, share their expertise, and help establish specific goals and requirements for the workgroup."

While existing PCI-SIG workgroups continue their progress towards achieving a 128GT/s data rate in the PCIe 7.0 specification, the new optical workgroup will focus on making the PCIe architecture more compatible with optical technology.