Ayar Labs, a start-up based in Emeryville, California, raised $24 million in Series A funding for its work in silicon photonics for high-speed connectivity.
Ayar Labs said it is pursuing a unique silicon photonics approach that uses fiber optic technology to move data between chips, rather than traditional copper pins and wires. It delivers improvements of 10x more bandwidth and 10x lower power compared to electrical interconnections.
The funding round was led by Playground Global and included Founders Fund, GlobalFoundries, and Intel Capital.
“The Series A investment is a big step towards enabling optical I/O for next-generation computing architectures, and prepares the company to reach scale production” says Ayar Labs co-founder and President Mark Wade.
“As we enter this next phase in our company’s growth, we are thrilled to be adding such strong investors with deep roots and expertise in the semiconductor and microelectronics industry,” says Ayar Labs co-founder Alex Wright-Gladstein.
The company also announced that Charlie Wuischpard, former vice president and general manager at Intel, has joined Ayar Labs as chief executive officer (CEO) and a member of the board of directors (Board). Wuischpard succeeds co-founder Alexandra Wright-Gladstein, who will assist with the transition and remain a senior member of the management team.
