U.S. silicon photonics chip startup Ayar Labs gets AI funding boost

Silicon Valley chip startup Ayar Labs raised another $25 million after its latest funding round closed, as demand has increased for faster, more energy-efficient computing for artificial intelligence applications, the company said on Wednesday.

The funding will be used to accelerate commercialization of Ayar Labs’ silicon photonics technology, which uses light instead of electricity to transfer data between chips or servers, it added.

The funding round, which closed in April this year, brings in new investors such as Capital TEN and VentureTech Alliance which both have deep connections to Taiwan, Ayar Labs CEO Charles Wuischpard said in an interview.

Silicon Valley computing giant Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) and venture capital firm Tyche Partners are among existing backers that increased their investments. GlobalFoundries Inc (GFS.O) and Intel Corp (INTC.O) are also strategic investors.

“I think things like ChatGPT have just accelerated this trend” of betting on photonics technology, Wuischpard said, referring to the chatbot created by OpenAI and released in November 2022 with the backing of Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O).

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