Molex demonstrates PCIe 7.0 cabling solution: 128 GT/s at 1 meter

Systems supporting PCIe 7.0 interconnections with a 128 GT/s transfer rate are years away. However, companies like Molex, which specializes in connectors, are already working on connectors and cabling solutions for PCIe 7.0. The company shared its PCIe Gen7 progress at Computex, demonstrating its Genesis cable and connector solution as well as the hardware used for internal interoperability tests.

PCIe cables, such as Molex's Genesis, address the challenges posed by high-speed signaling and the limitations of traditional PCB traces in terms of integrity and trace lengths. Genesis relies on an SFF TA-1040 connector for compatibility and potential broad industry adoption as PCIe 7.0 infrastructure begins to be deployed. The connector supports different configurations and cable lengths to maintain performance over distances where PCB solutions would struggle.

Molex's own signal integrity simulations for Genesis show controlled performance across various cable lengths. At 32 GHz, insertion loss ranges from -3.4 dB at 250 mm to -9.2 dB at 1000 mm, demonstrating effective signal retention over extended distances. Crosstalk levels are kept low across all lengths of up to 1000 mm, and impedance control remains tight through the connector and cable assemblies.

Genesis is designed to be structurally reliable, maintain a minimal footprint that fits into densely packed servers, and support cable lengths of up to 1000 mm without compromising signal integrity. To achieve this, it utilizes 29 AWG low-loss microwave coax cables for optimal high-frequency performance, signal integrity, and reliability.

Molex's roadmap for Genesis includes the x8 connector, scheduled for May 2025, the x16 model in July 2025, and a future x20 version. The Genesis design supports up to 74 pins for x8 configurations, with larger x16 and x20 variants planned to accommodate 124 and 148 pins, respectively. Molex intends to offer multiple orientation options to fit different system layouts, including right-angle, angled-exit, and vertical-exit designs. The widths of the connectors scale with their lane count, measuring 28 mm for x8, 47 mm for x16, and 57 mm for x20. The connectors also feature a height of 8.7 mm and a depth of 13.2 mm to cater to the needs of dense system designs.

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For now, it is hard to tell when Molex's Genesis connector will be put into service. The PCIe 7.0 specification is at final draft version 0.9, meaning that all the capabilities and specifications have been defined and interested parties can now develop implementations of their PCIe Gen7 subsystems. PCI-SIG is expected to deliver the final PCIe 7.0 specification 1.0 this year. Even if datacenter-grade hardware fully adopts PCIe 6.0 in 2026 – 2027, expect adoption of PCIe 7.0 to start either very late this decade, or in the early 2030s.

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