Nvidia, Intel And AMD Back Startup That Could Shake Up AI System Design

Ayar Labs says its optical interconnect technology can allow customers to ‘maximize the compute efficiency and performance of their AI infrastructure, while reducing costs and power consumption, to dramatically improve profitability metrics for AI applications.’

Nvidia, Intel and AMD have invested in a semiconductor startup that vows to improve the performance, efficiency and economics of large-scale AI systems with the power of light.

The San Jose, Calif.-based startup, Ayar Labs, announced on Wednesday that it has raised a $155 million funding round at valuation of more than $1 billion from Nvidia as well as the venture arms of AMD and Intel along with several other investors, including U.S. contract chip manufacturer GlobalFoundries and VentureTech Alliance, which said it has a “strong strategic partnership” with Taiwanese foundry giant TSMC.

The startup seeks to address what it views as a pressing problem and a substantial opportunity in the AI infrastructure space: bottlenecks in data movement between chips and systems that can hold back AI training and inference workloads from running faster.

One major culprit for this issue is traditional electrical interconnects, which Ayar hopes to replace with its optical interconnect technology.

The startup said this technology provides major advantages over electrical interconnects by allowing customers to “maximize the compute efficiency and performance of their AI infrastructure, while reducing costs and power consumption, to dramatically improve profitability metrics for AI applications.”

Ayar’s technology includes what it calls the “industry’s first in-package optical I/O chiplet,” which can be incorporated into system-on-chip packages for faster chip-to-chip communication and is powered by the startup’s SuperNova remote light source.

The startup said it plans to scale its optical interconnect technology with the new infusion of capital, which brought its total funding to $370 million.

Jordan Katz, a partner at venture capital firm Advent Global Opportunities who recently joined Ayar’s board in conjunction with the funding round, said the startup has “exciting engagements with Tier 1 customers” while adding that his firm believes “its groundbreaking technology will offer transformative benefits to AI systems.”

“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,” he said in a statement.