Intel has announced that it will be integrating both USb 3.0 and Thunderbolt data transfer technologies in its Ivy Bridge chipsets for release in 2012. At present, only Apple has released Thunderbolt in its Macbook Pro laptops. Dell offers USB 3.0 in the Precision laptop line but through non-intel silicon.

Kirk Skaugen, a vice president at the Intel Architecture Group, speaking at Intel's developer conference in Beijing said "Intel is going to support USB 3.0 in the 2012 client platform. We're going to support Thunderbolt capability. We believe they're complementary."

USB is the universal computer interface standard since 2002. The current USB 2.0 definition call for a maximum throughput of 480 megabits per second (Mb/s) and this goes to 4.8 gigabits per second (Gb/s), a ten-fold jump in USB 3.0. Thunderbolt is a joint development of Apple and Intel originally called Lightpeak because it could be made to work over optical fiber. In its current implementation as Thunderbolt, it remains a wired connection capable of 10 Gb/s.

Video processors, backup and storage systems and file servers are the more obvious applications for Thunderbolt, while speed is traded off for a more universal interface in USB 3.0.

When integrated into Intel's 2012 chipset, both interfaces will be available in all computers that use it. AMD has also announced support for USB 3.0 in its coming line of Fusion processors.