At the 2013 Computex show in Taipei, Taiwan, chip giant Intel announced its next-generation successor to Thunderbolt - the Thunderbolt 2 - which offers optimized 20 Gbps bi-directional flow with the help of a smarter controller chip.

The official unveiling of the Thunderbolt 2 - code named Falcon Ridge - has come a couple of months after Intel first started teasing the next iteration of Thunderbolt technology in April this year.

According to the information shared by Intel, while the 2011-released original Thunderbolt technology boasted four uni-directional 10 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) channels, its next-generation successor will increase the throughput of the current Thunderbolt interface by two times, "combining the two previously independent 10Gbs channels into one 20Gbs bi-directional channel that supports data and/or display."

As such, going by Intel's claims, Thunderbolt 2 will be capable of simultaneously pushing through 4K video and display, which amounts to "a lot of eye-popping video and data capability."

Noting that Thunderbolt 2 will bring together 20Gbps bandwidth and DisplayPort 1.2 support, Intel said that the next-generation Thunderbolt technology "creates an entirely new way of thinking about 4K workflows, specifically the ability to support raw 4K video transfer and data delivery concurrently."