USB went from 5Gbps on AMD's 2011 chipset to 80Gbps, and the USB-IF now says "USB4" and "USB 3.2" don't belong on the box
In April 2011 AMD's A75 became the first certified USB 3.0 chipset. Today USB4 Version 2.0 runs 80Gbps, up to 120Gbps one way, and the USB-IF tells vendors to sell it by speed, not version number.
On April 12, 2011, the USB Implementers Forum announced “the first certified SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) chipsets,” and they were AMD’s A75 and A70M. The release pitched it as USB 3.0 built into the chipset itself.
“The ramp of the SuperSpeed USB ecosystem has been unprecedented,” said Jeff Ravencraft, then the USB-IF’s president. AMD’s Chris Cloran called the move part of “AMD’s commitment” to new connectivity. The pitch was speed: “up to 10x the data transfer rate of Hi-Speed USB.”
That 5Gbps port never got faster. It got renamed. The USB-IF’s USB 3.2 guidelines say USB 3.2 “absorbed all prior 3.x specifications,” which made the 2011 speed “USB 3.2 Gen 1,” marketed as “SuperSpeed USB.” Then the January 2024 guidelines gave it another name, “USB 5Gbps.”
That’s one speed and at least four names, if you count the 2011 “USB 3.0.”
The top end did move. On October 18, 2022, the USB-IF published USB4 Version 2.0, “a major update to enable USB 80Gbps performance.” It uses PAM3 signal encoding, and for things like high-end displays, the port “can be configured asymmetrically to deliver up to 120Gbps in one direction while retaining 40Gbps in the other direction.” The 2024 list of marketing names stops at USB 80Gbps. It has no name for 120.
The 120Gbps mode is the loose end. It exists in the spec and has no marketing name in the 2024 guidelines, so it’s up to the USB-IF whether a box ever says “USB 120Gbps” or whether that mode stays a footnote for display makers. Watch the next guidelines file on usb.org for a sixth name.
