IPv6 longest prefix match lookups are implemented by splitting disjoint forwarding rules from non-disjoint forwarding rules and storing these forwarding rules in separate TCAMs. When an IPv6 address is received, the full IP address is passed to the TCAM containing the disjoint forwarding rules and the first n bits of the IP address are passed to the TCAM containing the non-disjoint forwarding rules. If a hit is received in the TCAM containing the disjoint forwarding rules, a result of the hit is used to implement a forwarding decision and the search in the TCAM containing the non-disjoint forwarding rules is terminated. If no hit is obtained from the disjoint TCAM, the search result of the non-disjoint TCAM is used. If a continue flag is set in the result received from the disjoint TCAM, a sub-trie based lookup is implemented based on the remaining m bits of the IPv6 address.