Thunderbolt 4, intel presents the new standard at ces 2020

Intel announced its next generation Thunderbolt 4 connection standard, along with its new Tiger Lake processor at CES 2020. The company said the new version of Thunderbolt will be four times faster than the speed of USB 3, however, they did not share many more details.

Intel unveils Thunderbolt 4, which will be integrated into Tiger lake CPUs

Intel yesterday demonstrated a Tiger Lake system on stage at its CES 2020 conference. One of the interesting aspects was the Thunderbolt 4 teaser, with a mention that it offers four times the speed of USB 3. Intel remains silent and does not give more information about it.

Thunderbolt 4 is going to be compatible with Thunderbolt 3, and will be based on the USB-C connector. It will integrate with 10nm + Tiger Lake processors, which will also include built-in Wi-Fi 6, 2x graphics performance enhancements, AI acceleration, and more.

Intel clarified that, during their comparison on stage, they were referring to the speeds of USB 3.2 Gen 2, which has a maximum speed of 10 Gbps. This puts the maximum speed of Thunderbolt 4 in the 40 Gbps range, which is the same as that of Thunderbolt 3. Intel intelligently compared the speed to that of USB, rather than the current generation of Thunderbolt 3, which raised many questions.

Visit our information guide about USB Pendrives

Intel may be trying to rename Thunderbolt 3, and also include USB 4 in its certification process. The company donated the Thunderbolt 3 protocol to the USB-IF (USB Implementers Forum) last year. This means that anyone can create Thunderbolt 3 hardware, but the certification requires a fee to be paid to Intel.

The summary of this story is that Thunderbolt 4 would not offer improvements in data transfer speeds compared to the third generation. On the other hand, the specifications for Thunderbolt 3 will be included in USB 4, which is expected to have a maximum speed of 40 Gbps. We will keep you informed.

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