AI Drives PCie 6 Interoperability Testing

The PCIe protocol is getting more complex as it matures, and with 6.0 still in the early days of adoption, interoperability is paramount for advanced AI data centers looking to deployment.

Broadcom Inc. recently introduced its end-to-end PCIe 6.0 portfolio, including its Interop Development Platform (IDP), which simplifies interoperability and system design with its advanced telemetry and diagnostics capabilities. The company has also collaborated with Micron Technology and Teledyne LeCroy to test its high-port switch and retimer for interoperability.

In a briefing with EE Times, Sreeni Bagalkote, product line manager for Broadcom’s data center solutions group, said PCIe 6.0 adoption is being driven largely by AI workloads, and it is the most difficult iteration yet to implement due to the adoption of Pulse Amplitude Modulation 4–level (PAM4) signaling. “You can’t use the standard packets anymore,” Bagalkote said.

Rather, PCie 6.0 uses fixed length packets, which also means standard error correction no longer works, Bagalkote added. “You have something called forward error correction that’s borrowed from [the] Ethernet world. It’s hugely complicated.”

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