Microchip Technology (Nasdaq: MCHP) announced a demonstration of an end-to-end PCIe Gen 6 storage architecture at the 2026 Future of Memory and Storage Conference, combining its Switchtec PCIe Gen 6 switches with Micron Technology's 9650 NVMe solid state drives.

The demonstration features a Microchip Switchtec Gen 6 PCIe fanout switch acting as an interconnect between host processors and multiple Micron 9650 SSDs. The architecture is designed to support composable and disaggregated system designs for AI, high-performance computing and cloud data center workloads.

PCIe 6.0 doubles the bandwidth of PCIe 5.0 to 64 GT/s per lane. Microchip's Switchtec Gen 6 switches are built on 3 nm process technology and include a hardware root of trust and secure boot architecture using post-quantum-safe cryptographic algorithms that meet CNSA 2.0 security standards.

"Advancing data center performance is not solved by any single component and our work with Micron highlights the importance of taking a cohesive approach," said Brian McCarson, corporate vice president and GM of Microchip's data center solutions business unit.

Micron describes the 9650 as the industry's first mass-produced PCIe Gen 6 SSD, though that claim has not been independently verified. "AI infrastructure is entering a new era in which storage performance and ecosystem interoperability must advance in lockstep," said Larry Hart, senior director of solutions marketing for Micron's Core Data Center Business Unit.

The information in this article is based on a press release issued by Microchip Technology.