Celestial AI, a Silicon Valley chip startup, announced on Tuesday that it has secured an additional $250 million in venture capital funding, totaling $515 million raised to date. The company is leveraging photonics technology, which utilizes light instead of electrical signals, to establish fast connections between AI computing chips and memory chips.
Memory bandwidth, crucial for advancing AI systems, has prompted a tech race among startups. Nvidia currently leads in this aspect with its NVLink and NVSwitch technologies, setting the stage for funding influx into alternative solutions for other chip manufacturers. Celestial AI's competitors have raised $850 million and $370 million, respectively.
Backed by Advanced Micro Devices' venture arm, Celestial AI is developing a "photonic fabric" technology to improve speed, space efficiency, and power consumption in chip design, distinguishing itself from competitors by employing different photonics technology.
CEO Dave Lazovsky highlighted to Reuters the goal of their photonic fabric technology: "to provide speed while saving space and power." Lazovsky emphasized that their innovation offers energy efficiency and lower latency compared to existing solutions, filling a gap left by Nvidia's offerings.
The latest funding round was spearheaded by Fidelity Management & Research and included investments from BlackRock, Maverick Capital, Tiger Global Management, and industry figures like Lip-Bu Tan, former CEO of Cadence Design Systems. Existing investors such as AMD Ventures, Koch Disruptive Technologies, and Temasek, among others, also participated in the funding initiative.