Our Investment in Moving Data at the Speed of AI

- Transforming AI infrastructure by accelerating data movement

- Solving Data Bottlenecks with Optical I/O

By Brent MacDonald – Partner at Rising Tide

As the complexity and size of AI models increase, traditional interconnect technology creates data bottlenecks that force GPUs and other accelerators to sit idle, limiting compute performance, increasing power consumption, and driving up costs. Ayar Labs’ optical I/O solution, which includes the SuperNova™ light source, eliminates these bottlenecks, enabling customers to maximize the compute efficiency and performance of their AI infrastructure while lowering costs, latency, and power consumption.

Additionally, with the help of patented silicon photonics techniques, Ayar Labs can replace conventional electrical-based I/O with multi-wavelength light sources and high-speed, highly efficient, low-latency optical interconnect chiplets. The Company recently displayed the industry’s first CW-WDM MSA-compliant 16-wavelength light source which can drive 256 optical carriers for 16 Tbps of bi-directional bandwidth – a level of bandwidth essential for AI workloads.

Ayar Labs was spun out of a 10-year research collaboration between MIT, UC Berkeley, and the University of Colorado (Boulder) that was funded by a $20M DARPA initiative. In 2019 the Company was selected as Intel's optical I/O solution partner for their next-gen “Multi-Chip Packages” offering (part of DARPA's PIPES research initiative). The goal is to provide extreme data rates at ultra-low power over much longer distances than supported by current technology. Ayar Labs and Hewlett Packard Enterprise recently announced a multi-year strategic collaboration to usher in a new era of data center innovation by developing silicon photonics solutions based on optical I/O technology. In addition, Lumentum and Ayar Labs announced that they have entered into a strategic collaboration agreement to deliver CW-WDM MSA-compliant external laser sources in high volume. The Company also announced that it is developing with NVIDIA an AI infrastructure based on optical I/O technology to meet future demands of AI and high-performance computing workloads. Other strategic partnerships include Lockheed Martin and Lumentum.

The Company announced it has raised $155 million in Series C funding to drive the commercialization of its optical I/O solution. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and NVIDIA entered this investment round. To accelerate growth, Ayar Labs also disclosed that it has completed its first volume of commercial shipments under contract and anticipates shipping thousands of units of its in-package optical interconnect by year's end. The Company also added veterans of the silicon industry to its Board of Directors. Find the funding press release here.

Why we are excited

By utilizing light to challenge conventional compute power and performance curves, Ayar Labs is paving the way for future design innovations that will facilitate the development of generative AI, disaggregated data centers, 6G, phased array sensory systems, and other technologies. Traditional interconnect technology simply cannot scale to the cost and throughput that multi-modal AI systems will require.

Ayar Labs' in-package optical I/O solution gives customers the performance and energy efficiency they need as they build out their next-generation AI infrastructure. Moreover, the exponential growth of AI models is breaking the back of existing infrastructure. To simplify the incorporation of optical I/O into AI systems and guarantee commercial readiness at scale, Ayar Labs keeps assembling a strong ecosystem. The business is collaborating with several prominent figures in the sector to highlight the benefits that optical solutions offer for AI applications. Rising Tide is excited to collaborate with Ayar Labs because of its key role in the AI revolution.

Disclaimer: Rising Tide Fund Managers, LLC and its affiliates (“Rising Tide” or “We”) is a United States venture capital firm investing primarily in the information technology and healthcare/life sciences markets. Over the last 35 years, we have partnered with family funds, high-impact investors, and strategic partners to help launch and expand startups in a variety of industries across three continents. We are dedicated to cooperating with our entrepreneurs at all stages: from financing to leveraging our international networks to facilitating exits by design. The portfolio companies described herein do not represent all the portfolio companies purchased, sold, or recommended for portfolios advised by Rising Tide. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified were or will be profitable. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Investors should be aware that a loss of investment is possible. For more information, visit www.rtf.vc