Ayar Labs, a leader in optical interconnect solutions for large-scale AI workloads, announced it has secured $155 million in funding led by Advent Global Opportunities and Light Street Capital to break down the AI bottleneck of data movement with its optical I/O technology. This brings the total funding to $370 million and raises the company's valuation to above $1 billion.
AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, and NVIDIA participated in this funding round. Other new strategic and financial investors participating in the round include 3M Ventures and Autopilot. They join existing investors such as Applied Ventures LLC, Axial Partners, Boardman Bay Capital Management, GlobalFoundries, IAG Capital Partners, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Playground Global, and VentureTech Alliance.
This marks another key milestone as Ayar Labs prepares its optical solution for high-volume manufacturing strategically aligned to customer roadmaps.
AI infrastructure is expected to see trillions of investments in the next decade, emphasizing the critical need for solutions that eliminate bottlenecks created by traditional copper interconnects and pluggable optics.
Ayar Labs has created the industry's first in-package optical I/O solution to replace electrical I/O that is standards-based, commercial-ready, and optimized for AI training and inference. And optical I/O enables customers to maximize the compute efficiency and performance of their AI infrastructure, while reducing costs and power consumption, to improve profitability metrics for AI applications dramatically.
This funding enables the company to scale its breakthrough optical I/O technology, the industry's first commercially viable optical interconnect solution backed by a robust manufacturing ecosystem.
KEY QUOTES:
"The leading GPU providers - AMD and NVIDIA - and semiconductor foundries - GlobalFoundries, Intel Foundry, and TSMC - combined with the backing of Advent, Light Street, and our other investors underscores the potential of our optical I/O technology to redefine the future of AI infrastructure. We are incredibly fortunate to have the backing of Light Street's deep expertise in technology-specific investments as well as Advent's robust private and growth equity background in this funding round."
"We believe optical I/O is on the cusp of revolutionizing the future of AI infrastructure, and we recognize the significant growth potential of in-package optical interconnects. Our deep research into the interconnect market revealed that Ayar Labs is led by a world-class team, has industry-leading technology, and exciting engagements with Tier 1 customers. We believe that supporting Ayar Labs and its groundbreaking technology will offer transformative benefits to AI systems."
"We are committed to fueling the growth of companies that lead technological innovation. With this significant capital infusion, Ayar Labs is well-positioned to support its growing customer base and meet the explosive demand for optical I/O solutions. This funding demonstrates to its customers that Ayar Labs has the resources necessary to support their AI infrastructure needs."
"Intel Capital has long recognized the importance of pioneering new interconnect technologies to improve compute efficiency and performance. We have been dedicated to supporting Ayar Labs' continued growth and are proud to reaffirm our commitment to its optical I/O solutions that aim to disrupt the AI industry."
"As an early investor and collaborator, Applied Ventures looks forward to continue working with Ayar Labs to advance energy-efficient computing using photonics-based optical interconnects. Ayar Labs plays a key role in helping solve the critical challenge of moving vast amounts of data efficiently across chips and data center systems."