Lightmatter is a photonic supercomputing company developing light-powered chips designed to accelerate AI-driven computations. By utilizing photons — the fundamental particles of light — instead of traditional electronic circuits, Lightmatter’s technology has the potential to compute at the speed of light. This revolutionary shift in computing architecture enables ultra-fast data processing, significantly reducing latency and maximizing computational performance.
Lightmatter has raised $400 million in a Series D funding round, increasing the company’s valuation to $4.4 billion. The new round was led by new investors advised by T. Rowe Price Associates with participation from existing investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company and GV (Google Ventures). With the fresh funding, Lightmatter will gear up to deploy Passage on a large scale in partner data centers, facilitating the expansion needed to drive ongoing AI innovation. In total, Lightmatter has raised $850 million to date.
Lightmatter, Boston, Massachusetts, United States, was founded in 2017 by Darius Bunandar, Nicholas Harris, and Thomas Graham. In 2023, the company joined the unicorn club. “We’re not just advancing AI infrastructure — we’re reinventing it. With Passage, the world’s fastest photonic engine, we’re setting a new standard for performance and breaking through the barriers that limit AI computing. This funding accelerates our ability to scale, delivering the supercomputers of tomorrow today,” noted Lightmatter co-founder and CEO Nick Harris.
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