Oct 10, 2025 / 7 min read
In-depth technical articles, white papers, videos, webinars, product announcements and more.
In today’s rapidly evolving tech landscape, consumers expect more than ever—instant access to information, seamless connectivity, and real-time responsiveness. To meet these demands, cutting-edge technologies like Edge AI are transforming how we interact with our devices, making them smarter, faster, and more secure.
Edge AI brings intelligence directly to our devices, enabling personalized experiences while keeping data local and private. From smartphones that double as cameras, GPS units, and voice assistants powered by models like Llama2, to advanced features like real-time photo editing and task automation—technology is becoming more intuitive and indispensable.
But behind these innovations lies a critical enabler: PCIe 5.0. As we design next-generation products, we must consider factors like power efficiency, computational complexity, device size, responsiveness, and thermal performance. PCIe 5.0 delivers the bandwidth and low latency needed to support these demands, unlocking new possibilities for AI at the edge and beyond.
In this article, we’ll explore how PCIe 5.0 is driving the future of intelligent devices, supporting the growing needs of Edge AI, and shaping a more responsive, connected world.
Figure 1. Edge AI drives Next Innovation Cycle
Figure 2. Mobile Market: The driver of Technology innovation with AI on device
As Edge AI continues to reshape how we interact with technology, the mobile market is experiencing steady growth—averaging around 6% annually. This expansion is driven by increasing consumer expectations for smarter, faster, and more secure devices.
To keep pace, mobile technology must evolve across several key dimensions:
By focusing on these critical areas, PCIe 5.0 is not just a performance upgrade—it’s a foundational technology enabling the next generation of mobile innovation. As we continue to push the boundaries of what mobile devices can do, PCIe 5.0 ensures that the infrastructure keeps pace with the imagination.
Figure 3. Automotive Market: Leading innovation through autonomy
While mobile technology continues to evolve, the automotive market is accelerating even faster—growing at an impressive rate of 12% annually. This sector demands even more advanced capabilities, especially in the realm of Edge AI, which can be thought of as "HPC on wheels."
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are no longer isolated components—they’ve become integrated, intelligent systems that share data and make real-time decisions to enhance vehicle autonomy and safety. At the same time, vehicles are transforming into immersive environments, with personalized infotainment systems that turn the car into a third living space.
Today’s cars are fully connected platforms, communicating with other vehicles and infrastructure to improve traffic flow, safety, and efficiency. Automotive cloud systems monitor performance, deliver over-the-air updates, and enable predictive maintenance—all of which require robust data handling.
This evolution pushes the boundaries of:
All of this must be achieved while keeping production costs manageable and ensuring long-term reliability. PCIe 5.0 is emerging as a key enabler for this transformation, providing the performance and flexibility needed to support the next generation of intelligent, connected vehicles.
Figure 4. Consumer Market: Yearly Models and Intense Competition
Alongside mobile and automotive, the consumer market is experiencing remarkable growth—expanding at a rate of 23% annually. This surge reflects a growing demand for advanced features in everyday devices, as consumers increasingly expect the same intelligence and responsiveness found in mobile phones and vehicles to be present in their homes.
From smart TVs and refrigerators to sound systems, wearables, and IoT devices, today’s consumer electronics are becoming more capable and connected. Many now include built-in AI to enhance functionality, personalize experiences, and assist with daily tasks.
However, bringing these advanced capabilities into the home introduces new challenges:
Achieving this balance is critical—not just for performance, but for affordability and sustainability. As the consumer market continues to push for innovation, PCIe 5.0 stands out as a foundational technology, enabling smarter, faster, and more secure living.
Figure 5. The PCIe 5.0 impact across markets
AI is growing fast. By 2028, it’s expected to use nearly half of all data center capacity—up from just 20% in 2023. Generative AI tasks are much more demanding, using up to ×ばつ the power of a regular search. PCIe 5.0 helps meet these demands by doubling the bandwidth of PCIe 4.0 and reducing latency across AI, gaming, automotive, and data center workloads. It’s also backward compatible, making it easy to integrate into existing systems.
Design Flexibility
Designers have two main options when moving to PCIe 5.0:
Keep the same number of lanes and double the bandwidth—great for performance-heavy applications.
Cut the lane count in half while keeping the same throughput—saving power and space, ideal for mobile and automotive.
Both options improve latency and give designers flexibility to balance performance, power, and area.
Smarter Power Management
PCIe 5.0 includes power states like P1.2 and P1.2PG to reduce energy use while staying responsive. Designers can also use techniques like dynamic lane scaling and clock gating to save even more power—especially important for edge and automotive devices.
Built for High-Speed Design
Running at 32 GT/s requires careful design. Engineers need to manage signal quality, jitter, and equalization. Stable power and low-jitter clocks are key. Advanced packaging like 2.5D and 3D chiplets helps connect components with high bandwidth and low latency.
Proven and Certified
PCIe 5.0 has been tested and deployed across industries. The spec was finalized in 2019, and Synopsys has supported it from the start—releasing IP for each draft and demonstrating hardware at launch. Adoption began in 2018 and ramped up quickly.
Synopsys leads in compliance, with over 35 certifications on the PCI-SIG Integrators List. It’s the only vendor certified for Root Complex, Endpoint, CEM, and CXL 2.0. PCIe 5.0 has been validated with leading partners—proving it’s ready for real-world deployment.
Edge AI is driving rapid transformation across mobile, automotive, and consumer markets, demanding faster data movement, lower latency, and greater energy efficiency. PCIe 5.0 meets these needs with twice the bandwidth of PCIe 4.0, flexible design options, and robust signal integrity—making it the interconnect of choice for next-generation SoCs.
Synopsys stands at the forefront of this evolution. With over 4,900 PCIe IP licenses and more than 20 years of expertise, Synopsys offers the industry’s most widely adopted and certified PCIe 5.0 IP. Its complete IP stack—including high-performance PHY, multi-stream controller, verification IP, security modules, and HAPS prototyping platforms—enables SoC teams to integrate PCIe 5.0 with confidence and achieve first-pass silicon success. For companies building AI-driven systems at the edge, Synopsys PCIe 5.0 IP delivers the performance, efficiency, and reliability needed to stay ahead.
For a deeper technical discussion of PCIe 5.0 integration strategies, deployment examples, and Synopsys IP capabilities, watch our on-demand webinar:
"Why Choose PCIe 5.0 for Power, Performance, and Bandwidth at the Edge."
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