The new USB4 VL830 controller paves the way for USB4 hubs

Via Labs has just unveiled its new USB4 controller, which is likely to start paving the way for USB4 hubs to the market in the future, a (hopefully) cheaper alternative to Thunderbolt 3/4 hubs.

What does the USB4 VL830 controller provide? First of all, the chances of the proliferation of USB4 hubs

The USB4 VL830 controller is one of the first (and maybe even the first) in the industry of endpoint controllers with USB4 ports. It should allow peripheral manufacturers to build highly integrated USB4 hubs, and we hope it will be in practice, because although USB 4.0 was written on paper in August 2019, we still don’t have almost any devices that use this standard.

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Intel’s Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 are developing at their best, but there is a reason for this – Intel develops the associated controllers itself and introduces them along with new platforms to the market. On the other hand, external manufacturers of USB controllers are usually slow in their actions, but maybe in 2 2022 things will gain momentum. The company plans to start shipping its VL830 to selected partners in the fourth quarter of 2021, so if all goes well, USB4 docking stations and multi-functional adapters should reach us by mid-2022.

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Especially since the next piece of the puzzle is already here and takes the form of an FCCSP 10x10mm housing with an unknown price. The VL830 supports one 40Gbps USB-C input, five USB 3.2 Generation 2 downstream ports (USB-A or USB-C), and DisplayPort 1.4 Alternate Mode over USB Type-C with HBR3 support, supporting 8Kp60 displays .