Semiconductor Chip Startups Using Photons Are Bagging Significant Funding: Reuters

  • Computers using light rather than electric currents for processing are gaining traction, and startups using photons in chips are getting significant funding, Reuters reports.
  • Ayar Labs, a startup developing silicon photonics technology, raised $130 million from investors, including Nvidia Corp NVDA.
  • Beyond connecting transistor chips, startups using silicon photonics for building quantum computers, supercomputers, and chips for self-driving vehicles also raised significant funds.
  • Another startup, PsiQuantum, raised $665 million.
  • Lightmatter, which builds processors using light to speed up AI workloads in the data center, raised $113 million.
  • Bill Gates-backed Luminous Computing, a startup building an AI supercomputer using silicon photonics, raised $115 million.
  • Moore's law, which said that every two years, the density of the transistors on a chip would double and bring down costs, is slowing, pushing the industry to seek new solutions to handle increasingly heavy artificial intelligence computing needs.
  • In 2021, silicon photonics startups raised over $750 million, doubling yearly.
  • Experts saw AI is growing and taking over large parts of the data center, with silicon photonics becoming standard hardware in data centers.
  • Semiconductor manufacturers also geared up to use their silicon chip-making technology for photonics.
  • GlobalFoundries Inc GFS disclosed that collaboration with PsiQuantum, Ayar, and Lightmatter has helped build up a silicon photonics manufacturing platform for others to use.
  • Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
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