Marvell Unveils Enhanced AI Inference Memory Expanders

Introduction

Marvell Technology has a new answer to one of AI's least glamorous problems: running out of memory. The company unveiled its second-generation Structera X memory expanders, the models 3406 and 3506, on October 12, 2026.

What's New

The headline upgrade is the channel count. The previous generation used a four-channel design, and the new parts move to six, a 50% increase in channels. Capacity is where the numbers get large. Each controller supports up to 9 TB of DDR4 memory or up to 6 TB of DDR5.

AI Inference Needs

The target here is AI inference, the phase where a trained model actually answers questions and generates output. Large language models lean heavily on something called the KV-cache, which holds information about the context the model is working with so it does not have to recompute everything from scratch. Marvell is pitching the new Structera X lineup as a way to meet those rising KV-cache demands.

CXL Technology

CXL lets servers attach additional memory beyond what sits directly alongside the processor, and Marvell's devices are built to comply with the CXL 3.2 version of that standard. The new devices are only expected to sample by Q1 2027, and sampling is an early step before volume production.

Conclusion

The new Structera X parts include inline LZ4 compression, which Marvell says boosts usable memory capacity by 2 to 3 times. The devices are expected to enter sampling by Q1 2027, and before that, Marvell plans live demonstrations at the OCP Global Summit, running from October 12 to October 15, 2026.