The PCI-SIG has just unleashed the 0.5 version, with the final version set to hit the shelves in 2025. That means supporting devices are not likely to make an appearance until 2026, with 2027-28 likely to be the years we see a wider rollout.

PCIe 7.0 is poised to make a significant impact in the enterprise market, particularly for bandwidth-intensive applications like AI and networking. While the home PC market is not yet saturated with PCIe 5.0 devices, and PCIe 6.0 is still making its way into our gaming PCs, the potential benefits of PCIe 7.0 for the enterprise sector are substantial.

PCI Express bandwidth doubles every generation, so PCIe 7.0 will deliver a maximum data rate of up to 128 GT/s—eight times faster than PCIe 4.0 and four times faster than PCIe 5.0. This means PCIe 7.0 can provide up to 512GB/s of bidirectional throughput via an x16 connection and 128GB/s for an x4 connection.

More bandwidth will undoubtedly be a boon for CPU-to-chipset links, which means multiple integrated devices like 10G networking, WiFi 7, USB 4, and Thunderbolt 4 can all run on a consumer motherboard without compromise. And imagine what all that bandwidth could mean for PCIe 7.0 SSDs.

In the years to come, a PCIe 7.0 x4 SSD could approach sequential transfer rates of up to 60GB/s. We'll need severe advances in SSD controller and NAND flash technologies to see speeds in that range, but it's still a tempting prospect.