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Lightmatter Inc Raises $400 Million to Revolutionize AI Computing with Photonic Technology
Lightmatter Inc, a company aiming to rebuild the artificial intelligence (AI) computing power market using advanced photonic technology, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $400 million in a Series D funding round. The investment was led by the renowned investment firm T. Rowe Price Associates. Among the existing investors who also participated in the funding were GV, previously known as Google Ventures.
Lightmatter is developing innovative approaches to interconnection and computing in computer chips. The key element of their technology is the use of silicon photonics with waveguides – miniature structures that guide light signals, unlike traditional chips that use conductive wires for this purpose.
“The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) is creating significant demand for powerful computing chips capable of handling the high loads required for training large language models, such as those used in the OpenAI chatbot,” said Lightmatter co-founder and CEO Nick Harris.
Lightmatter sees this trend as a key opportunity for their business. The raised investments will support the deployment of the Passage device, which can combine different types of computer chips and provide optical data exchange between them. Additionally, optical fibers allow multiple Passage units to be combined into powerful supercomputers, as Harris noted. The first such machines for the company’s clients are expected to hit the market by the end of next year.
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