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Announcement

Volantis Raises $88M for Photonic AI Chip Interconnects

San Francisco startup Volantis announced an $88M Series A on October 1, 2026, led by Lachy Groom and Abstract Ventures, to develop optical chip-to-memory interconnects using VCSEL lasers. The technology aims to enable far more memory chips per GPU and boost inference speeds to 10k tokens/sec.

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5 Sources, 6h ago, first seen 6h ago

TLDR

As AI scaling becomes limited by memory and compute interconnects rather than raw processing power, photonic approaches could unlock structurally new capabilities for large models (>10T–20T parameters). The funding highlights venture confidence in solving AI's data movement bottleneck through proven optical technology.

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5 Sources, first seen 6h ago

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Combined views

75.1K

5 Sources, first seen 6h ago

606 likes123 comments158 saves88 reposts

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7 Sources

volantissemi.aiOur $88M Series A: Demolishing the Memory Wall With Photonics | Volantis
t.coOur $88M Series A: Demolishing the Memory Wall With Photonics | Volantis
@semiDLExcited to announce Volantis's $88M Series A. We are solving Al's memory bottleneck by using optics, enabling chips with huge amounts of fast & cheap memory. By boosting both the memory bandwidth and capacity per chip by orders of magnitude, we enable ultra-fast inference (up to 10,000 tps/user) for large models (>10T) - with low $/tok to boot. Initially, this will enable insanely fast agents - think coding agents that finish in minutes or even seconds instead of hours. More excitingly, optics is a fundamentally scalable way to increase memory systems. Not 2X/year, but by orders of magnitude across new generations. This will enable a structurally new Al industry, including restarting scaling laws, holding entire repos in context windows & more. Our team has pioneered many core semiconductor technologies: the 1st CoWoS product, early HBM, the 1st silicon photonics CPO systems, the 1st high volume tunable VCSELs, the 1st processors to directly communicate using light & more. We’ve already sent data >10× farther than equally tiny electrical wires inside a chip package. Our next iteration is already taped out and targets world-record bandwidth density over relevant distances, read more: https://volantissemi.ai/news-insights/our-88m-series-a-demolishing-the-memory-wall-with-photonics-post
@TechmemeVolantis, which aims to use vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, used in the iPhone's Face ID, to transmit data between AI and memory chips, raised $88M (@stephennellis / Reuters) (Visit Techmeme dot com for the link and full context!)
@NaveenGRaoProud to be an angel investor in @semiDL and Volantis! We as an industry have a lot of work to do to keep scaling intelligence, and we need all the creative minds we can throw at the problem! Moving data around is a central problem and these guys are working on something truly breakthrough.
@taoyetouzi关注AI芯片的人看过来：旧金山初创 Volantis 刚拿下 8800 万美元融资，领投方是 Stripe 老将 Lachy Groom，连 John Doerr 都跟投了。 它要解决的很实在：AI 芯片真正的瓶颈不是算力，是"喂数据"——计算单元和内存芯片之间那点细电线，英伟达一块 GPU 周围只能围 8 块 HBM。Volantis 用 iPhone 人脸识别里那套 VCSEL 小激光器把连接换成光，理论上能围到 220 块。 说白了，今天刚发的 CScale 是机柜级的光互连，Volantis 是芯片级的——光替电这条线，正在从机柜一路打进芯片内部。明年出货，先看工程落地。#AI #芯片 https://www.reuters.com/business/volantis-raises-88-million-tech-connect-ai-memory-chips-2026-10-01/
@thedailyblock🚨 BREAKING: Volantis Raises $88M to Boost AI Chip Performance Semiconductor startup Volantis raised $88M to develop technology aimed at improving how AI processors communicate with memory chips.
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    7 Sources

    volantissemi.aiOur $88M Series A: Demolishing the Memory Wall With Photonics | Volantis
    t.coOur $88M Series A: Demolishing the Memory Wall With Photonics | Volantis
    @semiDLExcited to announce Volantis's $88M Series A. We are solving Al's memory bottleneck by using optics, enabling chips with huge amounts of fast & cheap memory. By boosting both the memory bandwidth and capacity per chip by orders of magnitude, we enable ultra-fast inference (up to 10,000 tps/user) for large models (>10T) - with low $/tok to boot. Initially, this will enable insanely fast agents - think coding agents that finish in minutes or even seconds instead of hours. More excitingly, optics is a fundamentally scalable way to increase memory systems. Not 2X/year, but by orders of magnitude across new generations. This will enable a structurally new Al industry, including restarting scaling laws, holding entire repos in context windows & more. Our team has pioneered many core semiconductor technologies: the 1st CoWoS product, early HBM, the 1st silicon photonics CPO systems, the 1st high volume tunable VCSELs, the 1st processors to directly communicate using light & more. We’ve already sent data >10× farther than equally tiny electrical wires inside a chip package. Our next iteration is already taped out and targets world-record bandwidth density over relevant distances, read more: https://volantissemi.ai/news-insights/our-88m-series-a-demolishing-the-memory-wall-with-photonics-post
    @TechmemeVolantis, which aims to use vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, used in the iPhone's Face ID, to transmit data between AI and memory chips, raised $88M (@stephennellis / Reuters) (Visit Techmeme dot com for the link and full context!)
    @NaveenGRaoProud to be an angel investor in @semiDL and Volantis! We as an industry have a lot of work to do to keep scaling intelligence, and we need all the creative minds we can throw at the problem! Moving data around is a central problem and these guys are working on something truly breakthrough.
    @taoyetouzi关注AI芯片的人看过来：旧金山初创 Volantis 刚拿下 8800 万美元融资，领投方是 Stripe 老将 Lachy Groom，连 John Doerr 都跟投了。 它要解决的很实在：AI 芯片真正的瓶颈不是算力，是"喂数据"——计算单元和内存芯片之间那点细电线，英伟达一块 GPU 周围只能围 8 块 HBM。Volantis 用 iPhone 人脸识别里那套 VCSEL 小激光器把连接换成光，理论上能围到 220 块。 说白了，今天刚发的 CScale 是机柜级的光互连，Volantis 是芯片级的——光替电这条线，正在从机柜一路打进芯片内部。明年出货，先看工程落地。#AI #芯片 https://www.reuters.com/business/volantis-raises-88-million-tech-connect-ai-memory-chips-2026-10-01/
    @thedailyblock🚨 BREAKING: Volantis Raises $88M to Boost AI Chip Performance Semiconductor startup Volantis raised $88M to develop technology aimed at improving how AI processors communicate with memory chips.
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