OpenLight has raised $34 million in an oversubscribed Series A round to accelerate the commercialization of its heterogeneously integrated photonics technology for AI data centers. The funding was co-led by Xora Innovation and Capricorn Investment Group, with participation from Mayfield, Juniper Networks (now part of HPE), Lam Capital, New Legacy Ventures, and K2 Access. The capital supports OpenLight’s transition from a Synopsys subsidiary to a venture-backed startup focused on scaling its custom Photonic Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (PASICs).
The company’s technology is built on a Process Design Kit (PDK) that integrates indium phosphide with silicon photonics, enabling both active and passive components—including lasers, modulators, amplifiers, and detectors—on a single chip. Validated at Tower Semiconductor’s foundry, the PDK allows customers to design production-ready photonic chips, accelerating time-to-market. OpenLight holds more than 360 patents and is currently developing advanced photonic reference designs, including 400Gbps modulators and integrated laser technologies, as well as photonic integrated circuits capable of 1.6Tbps and 3.2Tbps throughput.
The new investment will expand OpenLight’s component library and scale operations to meet the surging demand for optical interconnects in AI-scale data centers. Beyond data centers, the company is also targeting telecom, automotive, sensing, healthcare, and quantum computing markets.
- $34M Series A co-led by Xora Innovation and Capricorn Investment Group
- Transition from Synopsys subsidiary to independent, venture-backed startup
- Technology based on heterogeneously integrated III-V and silicon photonics
- Over 360 patents covering PDK and manufacturing techniques
- Validated at Tower Semiconductor foundry for scalable production
- Roadmap includes 400Gbps modulators and 1.6–3.2Tbps photonic integrated reference chips
“As we enter this next phase of our company’s growth, we are excited to be adding such strong investors with deep roots and expertise in the semiconductor and photonics industry,” said Dr. Adam Carter, CEO of OpenLight. “This funding will allow us to scale our operations, deepen our R&D efforts, and bring our groundbreaking products to market faster.”
🌐 Analysis: OpenLight traces its roots to Synopsys, where it incubated its platform for heterogeneously integrating III-V materials with silicon photonics. The approach allows on-chip lasers, a critical differentiator since many competing silicon photonics solutions rely on external lasers. Over the past two years, OpenLight has built strong foundry partnerships and a large patent base, positioning itself as a key enabler for next-generation AI data centers that require optical I/O at scale. With hyperscalers pushing toward co-packaged optics and terabit-class interconnects, OpenLight’s PDK-driven model offers a pathway to volume manufacturing—an industry challenge many startups in the photonics sector struggle to overcome.
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