Thunderbolt 5: Intel accidentally leaks Thunderbolt 5, expected to offer upto 80 Gbps via Type-C port – Times of India

Intel seems to be working on the next generation of Thunderbolt technology. Likely to be dubbed as Thunderbolt 5, the hardware interface protocol is expected to offer twice as much speed as the current-generation.
AnandTech has reported that the EVP and GM of Intel’s Client Computing Group, Gregory Bryant accidentally tweeted an image — now deleted — from his visit to Intel’s R&D labs in Israel on Sunday, revealing details about the next-generation hardware interface protocol, Thunderbolt 5.
According to the report, the photo from the tweet reads 80G PHY technology which suggests that the Thunderbolt 5 will support up to 80 Gbps bandwidth. Which is double what Thunderbolt 4 currently offers.
The tweeted image also contains a poster with some details mentioned about the new technology. The first line reads, USB 80G is targeted to support the existing USB-C ecosystem”. This means that the extra bandwidth will be delivered via the same USB Type-C interface. This comes with great relief as the Type-C is the most common port found across the devices. Also, it will be a lot easier for manufacturers to adapt to this new technology.
The poster also reveals one very important fact about the rumoured Thunderbolt 5 technology is that its next-generation interface will use PAM-3 modulation technology. PAM 3 stands for Pulse Amplitude Modulation and this will allow for higher bandwidth than existing technologies.
While the Thunderbolt 5’s higher bandwidth will enable several new features and other enhancements like support for higher refresh rate for 4K and 8K monitors, faster data transfer, support for external graphics cards and more.
It is important to understand that the Thunderbolt 4 is still a year old and it is still in the adoption phase by the companies. And while the Thunderbolt 4 comes with several additional benefits over Thunderbolt 3, it does not offer any advantage in the bandwidth. It offers the same bandwidth like the last generation. So, the Thunderbolt 5 clearly has an advantage over the older generations.