USB 3.0 is turning up in more and more products and more and more USB 3.0 gear is coming to market all the time. Many were disappointed when Intel decided not to integrate USB 3.0 into its chipsets this year.
Intel has now said that it will have its own USB 3.0 host controller later in 2010, but that controller will not be part of its chipsets. The reason the controller won't be part of the chipset is that it reportedly costs about $9 to integrate USB 3.0 into the typical mainboard.
This eliminates the feature for low-end boards because it would make the board too expensive. Still, Intel doesn't want to give the market fully to its completion like NEC, who is set to ramp production on its USB 3.0 controller. More availability of competing solutions is a good thing.
