It’s officially 2011 and native USB 3.0 support still isn’t all that close to fruition. Blame both Intel and AMD for dragging their feet, and credit NEC and other USB 3.0 chip makers for filling in the gap.
According to DigiTimes, AMD isn’t planning to integrate native USB 3.0 support until July of this year. Intel will take even longer adopting the SuperSpeed spec by baking it into its Ivy Bridge platform all the way in January 2012, exactly a year from now.
In the meantime, NEC, ASMedia, and Etron are leading the charge with USB 3.0 chips, more recently turning their attention to AMD’s new Ontario and Zacate platforms. This will give the trio at least another year of profitability, DigiTimes says, and maybe longer.
Both Intel and AMD will start pushing the new standard in the months to come, although it’s expected that Intel will relegate native USB 3.0 support to only its high-end boards at first.
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