USB4 Version 2.0 Might Support 80Gb/s Transfer Speeds

The revised specification for the upcoming USB4 Version 2.0 has been unveiled and made public. When it is released, the new USB version will enable existing USB-C cables to operate at double the speed of the USB4 specification. Both 40Gb/s USB-C passive cables and the recently specified 80Gb/s active cables will allow up to 80Gb/s operations.

The USB Promoter Group, which includes companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Intel, HP, and STM among others, laid forth the requirements. Updates are being made to higher performance USB 3.2, DisplayPort, and PCIe data tunnelling to take advantage of the bandwidth gain. The USB Type-C and USB Power Delivery standards will also be modified to support the greater level of data throughput.

The revised USB4 specification will contain the following, as stated in the announcement:

• Utilizing current 40 Gbps USB Type-C passive cables and newly-defined 80 Gbps USB Type-C active cables, up to 80 Gbps operation is possible. This is accomplished using a new physical layer design.
• Protocols for data and presentation have been updated to make greater use of the expanded bandwidth.
• The USB 3.2 data tunnelling speed may now reach 20 Gbps thanks to improvements to the USB data architecture.
• Updated to comply with the most recent versions of the PCIe and DisplayPort requirements.
• Backward compatibility with USB4 Version 1.0, USB 3.2, USB 2.0, and Thunderbolt 3.

The new specs are anticipated to be released before the November USB DevDays developer conference, according to the USB Promoter Group. Currently, the upgrade is aimed at developers, but branding and marketing standards will be modified later to incorporate USB 80Gb/s for identifying authorised cables and goods.