Silicon Motion revealed the first details of its first consumer PCIe 6.0 NVMe SSD controller at the Future of Memory and Storage (FMS) conference this week, alongside a new DRAM-less PCIe 5.0 controller that appears to rival the SM2508 in terms of performance. The new PCIe 6.0 controller is currently only known under the code name Neptune, but Silicon Motion is promising 25 GB/s or better sequential read speeds and up to 3.5 million IOPS. However, this hinges on the use of 4800 MT/s NAND flash in an eight channel configuration. Neptune is expected to launch sometime in 2028, which means you have plenty of time to save up.

As for its new DRAM-less PCIe 5.0 controller, it goes under the SM2524XT model name and features 14 GB/s or better sequential read speeds and 2.5 million IOPS, which is identical to Silicon Motions flagship SM2508 controller. However, this does require faster 4800 MT/s NAND, so it's not likely we'll see that type of performance from the first generation of drives based on the SM2524XT, as it has a 4-channel NAND interface vs. an eight channel interface on the SM2508. The SM2524XT is expected to launch some time next year. A new common feature for both of the new controllers—that they share with the SM2504XT—is support for Separate Command Architecture (SCA) which allows for commands and address transmission paths to be handled in parallel instead of having to deal with them sequentially, which should reduce latency and increase available bandwidth to the NAND.

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