We can expect Gen5 SSDs to stay on the market until 2030, Gen6 SSDs aren't ready for mainstream

Most PC gamers don't even have a Gen5 SSD yet, but the world of Gen6 SSDs won't be thrusted upon us for years to come, says the founder and CEO of Silicon Motion.

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In a new interview with Tom's Hardware, Wallace C. Kou, the founder and chief executive officer of Silicon Motion, said we won't be seeing any Gen6 SSDs for consumer PC systems until 2028. Gen4 SSDs already drive 7GB/sec+ right now, with Gen5 SSDs either requiring active cooling, a specific Gen5 SSD slot on your motherboard or inside of your laptop, but they'll drive upwards of 14GB/sec+ if you use one.

PC OEMs have zero interest in Gen6 SSDs right now, with AMD and Intel not even wanting to talk about them yet. We did see Gen6 teased at Computex 2025 in Taipei just a few weeks ago, but Gen6 SSDs won't be hitting the market until at least 2030.

Wallace C. Kou, the founder and chief executive officer of Silicon Motion, told Tom's Hardware: "For consumer? You will not see any PCIe Gen6 [solutions] until 2030. PC OEMs have very little interest in PCIe 6.0 right now - they do not even want to talk about it. AMD and Intel do not want to talk about it. That is why we feel very good about the situation - because we dominate PCIe 5.0, both 8-channel and 4-channel controllers. For the next four years, we will be in a comfortable position to continue growing in the client market".