PCIe Eyes Road Ahead with AI, Automotive

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www.eetimes.com, Jul. 30, 2023 – 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is getting more attention than ever thanks to the rapid emergence of ChatGPT, so it should be no surprise that well-established, incumbent technologies, such as the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe), are poised to play a critical role.

PCIe has become somewhat foundational in enterprise computing, with the well-established Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) and rapidly maturing Compute Express Link (CXL) both leveraging the now ubiquitous interconnect–and with the latter enabling PCIe to become better at delivering needed bandwidth.

The ubiquity of the interconnect positions it well for new opportunities–PCIe is well-understood and proven, so it's no surprise that it's seen as being a key enabler for AI workloads in data centers. But just as enterprise computing technologies like SSDs and ethernet have been gaining traction in the modern vehicle to support infotainment, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomy, the automotive market is also on the PCIe roadmap.

Overall, the PCIe architecture has a lot of growth opportunity in several verticals where applications and systems are increasingly demanding improved performance, power efficiency, flexibility and embedded security, according to a recently published report from ABI Research, "PCI Express market vertical opportunity."

The research firm is forecasting that the total addressable market for PCIe technology will reach $10 billion by 2027 thanks to high-growth opportunities in automotive and network edge verticals. The ABI report expects the automotive industry will benefit greatly from widespread PCIe technology adoption. That adoption not only enables the consolidation of electrical/electronic (E/E) domains, but also helps mission-critical applications in autonomous vehicles meet safety and efficiency requirements.

Not surprisingly, the data center will contribute to sustained long-term demand for new PCIe-tech deployment to enable high-performance applications, which coincides with high rates of AI adoption, while power efficiency and security are also key drivers

As heterogenous hardware becomes ubiquitous, PCIe will be used to meet Complex Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN or ORAN) workloads, the report said, and it's also expected to perform well in the mobile devices vertical as a discrete component interconnect necessary for keeping up with the quick pace of market innovation.

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