Cardbus is a term for the 32-bit version of the PCMCIA (PC Card) bus.

Cardbus also supports bus mastering. Bus mastering allows a controller on the bus to talk to other devices on the bus without going through the main CPU. This allows for faster transfer rates.

Since Cardbus is 32-bit and also supports bus mastering, this makes it similar in some respects to PCI. Many chip sets such as those that support Wi-Fi can be adapted to both PCI and Cardbus cards.