PLX Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLXT), a leading global supplier of software-enriched silicon connectivity solutions for the enterprise and consumer markets, today strengthened its industry leadership position by finishing a new design on 40nm process technology at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC). This major achievement creates new opportunities for designers looking to reap the benefits of differentiation using PLX's well-known leading performance, low power and custom software tools. PLX is taking advantage of the 40nm geometry to develop a variety of new solutions over the next few years, including PCI Express (PCIe) Gen 3 switches.
"By moving its PCI Express products to 40nm processes, PLX is staying in lockstep with the leading-edge microprocessors coming from Intel and the most powerful graphics processing units recently introduced by AMD's ATI business," said Rob Lineback, senior market research analyst at IC Insights, Inc. "Additionally, this development should enable PLX's PCI Express technology to complement soon-to-be-announced 40nm GPUs from Nvidia in performance and power efficiency."
"PLX chose TSMC as the foundry for its 40nm silicon development because of its technology leadership in 40nm geometry skills and a common vision of delivering timely product excellence," said Mike Grubisich, PLX vice president of operations. "We expect to be first to market by delivering 40nm PCI Express Gen 3 switch samples to key customers and consequently retaining and increasing our commanding market lead."
PLX leadership in PCIe
PLX has shipped more than $100 million in revenue from its industry-leading PLX ExpressLane PCI Express family. With more than 65 percent of PCIe switch market share, PLX to date has shipped over five million switch and bridge units, including more than 16 million PCIe ports, to board and system designers worldwide. The company pioneered the PCIe switch and bridge market in 2002 and through innovation and differentiation has developed the industry's broadest product selection, which now numbers more than 40 feature-rich solutions. The ExpressLane family's flagship PCIe Gen 2-compliant 96-lane, 24-port PCIe switch offers the largest lane and port counts in the industry.