December 13, 2024 /SemiMedia/ — Ayar Labs, specializing in optical chip technology, has raised $155 million in a funding round led by Advent Global Opportunities and Light Street Capital. Investors include Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD, bringing the company's valuation to over $1 billion.

Headquartered in San Jose, California, Ayar Labs focuses on using light for data transfer between chips to enhance efficiency in artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Co-founder and CEO Mark Wade emphasized that AI workloads challenge existing hardware, and Ayar Labs addresses data bottlenecks, power consumption, and heat issues with its photonics-based interconnect technology.

The technology, inspired by submarine optical cables, is miniaturized to fit within chip packages. Ayar Labs’ optical chips are currently manufactured by GlobalFoundries, with collaborations underway to integrate its technology into Intel’s manufacturing ecosystem. The company is also in talks with TSMC for further cooperation.

Mark Wade stated that customers are already testing the chips, aiming for mass production qualification by mid-2026. The new funding will support scaling up production.

Additionally, Ayar Labs’ existing investor, VentureTech Alliance, has a strategic partnership with TSMC, which is part of an industry alliance launched this year to accelerate the adoption of silicon photonics in chip packaging.