Microchip Expands AI Data Centre Portfolio with PCIe 6.0 Switch and Storage Upgrades

Microchip Technology has introduced new connectivity and storage products aimed at AI, cloud and high-performance computing systems, as data centres face growing pressure to move and manage larger volumes of information between processors, accelerators and storage.

The additions include a Switchtec PCIe 6.0 Low-Lane-Count switch, an enhanced version of the company’s Flashtec PCIe Gen 5 NVMe 5016 controller, and new capabilities for its Adaptec SmartRAID 4300 NVMe RAID accelerator family.

The company is positioning the products as building blocks for infrastructure where higher bandwidth must be balanced against power consumption, system space, data protection and increasingly demanding security requirements.

Switchtec Brings PCIe 6.0 to Smaller Systems

Microchip’s new Switchtec PCIe 6.0 Low-Lane-Count, or LLC, switch is designed for systems that require Gen 6 connectivity but do not need the lane density of the company’s larger Switchtec devices.

The switch supports up to 64 PCIe Gen 6 lanes and 32 ports, with x2, x4, x8 and x16 bifurcation options. Integrated Direct Memory Access enables data to move directly between connected devices with less involvement from the host processor.

It also supports PCIe multicast and device partitioning, while security features include a hardware root of trust and secure boot.

The smaller configuration is intended to extend PCIe 6.0 into platforms where board space and power budgets are more constrained, including data centre equipment and intelligent edge systems.

PCIe 6.0 operates at 64 GT/s per lane, twice the transfer rate of PCIe 5.0. The additional bandwidth is becoming increasingly relevant as AI servers connect larger numbers of GPUs, accelerators and high-speed storage devices. Microchip previously introduced Switchtec Gen 6 products supporting as many as 160 lanes, manufactured on a 3 nm process.

Flashtec Controller Adds Post-Quantum Security Support

Microchip is also updating its Flashtec PCIe Gen 5 NVMe 5016 SSD controller as storage suppliers prepare for higher-capacity enterprise and hyperscale systems.

One of the main additions is support for Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite 2.0, or CNSA 2.0, intended to help customers prepare storage systems for emerging post-quantum security requirements.

The controller also provides dual-port operation, allowing storage systems to maintain redundant data paths and improve availability if one connection fails.

Virtualisation features, Quality of Service management and programmable capabilities are designed to give storage vendors greater control over how performance is allocated across workloads.

Microchip said the changes are intended to keep the Flashtec platform aligned with newer NAND technologies, larger-capacity SSDs and storage systems being developed for enterprise, hyperscale and AI deployments.

SmartRAID 4300 Gains Security and Resilience Features

The company has also expanded the capabilities of its Adaptec SmartRAID 4300 family, focusing on data protection, security and easier management of NVMe storage.

New support for self-encrypting drives includes both local and remote key management. Microchip has also added RAID 6 and RAID 60, providing additional options for protecting data against drive failures.

Platform support has been widened to include Linux, Debian, Ubuntu and Microsoft Windows 11 environments.

Other additions include dynamic NVMe configuration, which allows administrators to make certain changes while systems remain operational, along with persistent event logging and peer-to-peer rebuild capabilities.

The latter can shift more rebuilding work away from the host CPU, potentially reducing processor overhead during storage recovery operations.

Microchip has also added StorageCore API support, enabling SmartRAID management to be incorporated into third-party software through host applications or customised baseboard management controller frameworks.

Microchip Builds Out its AI Infrastructure Portfolio

The latest products form part of a broader Microchip push into data centre connectivity and storage.

In August 2026, the company demonstrated a PCIe Gen 6 storage architecture combining its Switchtec switches with Micron 9650 NVMe SSDs, showing how Gen 6 connectivity could be used to increase throughput between processors and high-speed storage in AI and cloud systems.

Microchip has also introduced XpressConnect PCIe 6.0 and CXL 3.1 retimers, designed to maintain signal integrity as high-speed connections extend across server boards, riser cards and cables.

The portfolio expansion illustrates how the AI infrastructure market is creating opportunities beyond GPUs and processors. As accelerator clusters become larger, the ability to move data quickly between compute, memory and storage is becoming a significant system-level constraint.

For Microchip, that creates a wider addressable market across PCIe switches, retimers, NVMe controllers and storage accelerators, technologies that sit between the headline processors but can directly affect how efficiently those processors are used.