Core Insights - CXL is gaining attention as a new standard for memory subsystems, with significant advancements in hardware and performance data [2][17] - The CXL standard has evolved through multiple versions, with CXL 1.0 and 1.1 released in 2019, followed by CXL 2.0 in late 2020, and further versions expected between 2022 and 2024 [2][17] - The adoption of CXL memory subsystems is projected to take time, with significant sales growth not expected until 2027 due to current software support limitations [14][17] Group 1: CXL Development and Features - CXL has expanded its coverage from single CPU systems to rack and rack-to-rack connections, enhancing memory consistency across various processors [3][6] - Key features of CXL include eliminating idle memory in data centers, increasing memory bandwidth, and supporting persistent memory [3][11] - The interest in CXL varies among system developers, with large data center systems showing more interest compared to PC OEMs [11][17] Group 2: Performance Comparisons - CXL memory exhibits higher latency compared to traditional DDR memory, with delays ranging from 170 to 210 nanoseconds for CXL memory controllers, compared to approximately 100 nanoseconds for DDR [14][15] - In terms of bandwidth, CXL memory can achieve a transfer speed of 64 GB/s through PCIe Gen5, compared to 51.2 GB/s for DDR5-6400 SDRAM DIMM [15] - CXL memory has shown significant performance improvements in specific applications, such as a 23% performance increase in Microsoft SQL database tests and over 100% improvement in Apache Spark machine learning tests [16][17] Group 3: Market Outlook - The current lack of software support for CXL features is a barrier to widespread adoption, with predictions indicating that significant sales will not occur until 2027 [14][17] - Despite the challenges, CXL memory subsystems are already in production and have demonstrated tangible benefits in certain applications, particularly for large system developers [17]