Sumitomo Electric Acquires Certification for its Cables Compliant with the Latest Thunderbolt™ 4 Standard

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. announced that it has developed Thunderbolt™ 4 electrical cables that comply with the latest Thunderbolt™ standard and acquired certification. Sumitomo Electric begun the mass production and sales of Thunderbolt™ 4 cables in November 2020.

Thunderbolt™ is a general-purpose fast data transmission standard for data communication between a personal computer and peripheral devices such as displays.*¹ This technology was developed by Intel Corporation. Based on the technical specification disclosed by Intel, Sumitomo Electric began developing Thunderbolt™ cables and became the world's first company to obtain certification for them in 2010. In November 2015, the Company acquired certification for its Thunderbolt™ 3 cables capable of 40 Gbps transmission,*² and has been fulfilling market demand as a major vendor of the products.
Recently, Sumitomo Electric developed Thunderbolt™ 4 electrical cables and obtained certification for them based on the specifications of the latest Thunderbolt™ 4 standard disclosed in July 2020 by Intel Corporation. Thunderbolt™ 4 cables come with the following features.

Thunderbolt™ cables use a small USB Type-C connector that allows you to plug it in without worrying about the orientation. Moreover, the cable is Sumitomo Electric's proprietary high-performance ultra-fine coaxial cable, which offers remarkable flexibility.
With the rising demand for remote working these days, creating a smarter remote work environment at home or in the office is a challenge for remote workers.
Thunderbolt™ cables are expected to be more and more useful for connecting to 4K/8K displays and docking stations used to save space by improving the connectivity between PCs and peripherals. Going forward, Sumitomo Electric will strive to provide products that meet its customers' expectations, by expanding the lineup of Thunderbolt™ 4 cables and its sales channels.

*1 Thunderbolt™ technology is a standard for fast general-purpose data transmission developed by Intel Corporation in collaboration with Apple Inc.

*2 This is the maximum transmission rate achievable when the cable is used to connect Thunderbolt™ 3-compatible devices.

・ Thunderbolt™ and the Thunderbolt™ logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.