USB-c gets speed increase to 20Gbit/s

The USB Implementers Forum wants to increase the speed of the USB SuperSpeed ​​standard from a maximum of 10Gbit/s now to 20Gbit/s. That speed only comes to usb type-c. The organization also wants to simplify naming.

Currently usb 3.1 gen 2 offers the theoretical maximum speed of 10Gbit/s and this standard works with type a, b, mini, micro and c connectors. Bradley Saunders of the USB Implementers Forum told Computerbase that he wants to increase the speed to 20Gbit/s ‘in the coming years’. This higher speed can only be achieved in combination with USB type-c.

According to Saunders, current USB-c cables already support 20Gbit/s if they are correctly certified. On the system side, new controllers have to be implemented. With the announcement of SuperSpeed ​​usb 10Gbit/s in 2013, the president of USB-IF already told The Inquirer that there was room to double the speed to 20Gbit/s.

Such speeds are already possible via ‘usb 3.1 type-c’ connectors, but only if systems have Thunderbolt 3 controllers. This is an Intel standard that manufacturers must include an additional license for.

In 2015, USB-IF renamed the old 3.0 standard to usb 3.1 gen 1 for the 5Gbit/s variant and the former 3.1 standard then became known as usb 3.1 gen 2 with a speed of 10Gbit/s. That naming caused a lot of confusion, especially because many manufacturers report little other than USB 3.1 with devices. The USB Implementers Forum therefore does not want to introduce a new name for the 20Gbit/s version. The organization sticks to the SuperSpeed ​​name, which simply refers to the speed, including logos. The USB-IF also wants to reduce the number of Alternate Modes; in the future, only protocols other than for data transfer should be supported.

It is unknown when the new specification will be released. Only an internal draft for the standard is circulating within the USB Implementers Forum.