Marvell introduces Structera X CXL 3.2 memory expanders

Marvell Technology announced on October 12, 2026, its second-generation Marvell Structera X 3406 and Structera X 3506 CXL 3.2 memory expanders. The new chips are engineered to ease memory bottlenecks in AI inference workloads, such as large language models and deep learning recommendation models.

The expanders introduce six memory channels, which is 50% more than the prior generation, alongside PCIe Gen 6 connectivity. The Structera X 3406 supports up to 18 DDR4 RDIMM slots with 9TB of capacity, while the Structera X 3506 supports 12 DDR5 RDIMM slots with up to 6TB of memory per controller. The devices also provide four-host connectivity with up to 256GB/s of PCIe 6.0 x16 host bandwidth.

The hardware includes inline LZ4 compression delivering up to 250GB/s of throughput, five times higher than the prior generation. Depending on the workload, this unlocks two to three times more effective memory capacity and accelerates time to first token by 40% to 50% at equivalent context length. For security, the chips integrate post-quantum cryptography, Caliptra 2.0, CXL IDE, and AES-256 memory encryption.

Marvell is showcasing the technology at the OCP Global Summit in San Jose, California, from October 12 to October 15, 2026. The Structera X 3406 and 3506 controllers are expected to begin sampling in the first quarter of 2027.