San Francisco – Ayar Labs, the Silicon Valley company developing optical connections that link AI chips together, disclosed on Thursday that it has raised an additional $150 million. The infusion extends the Series E financing round the company launched in March, which originally targeted $500 million.
Backing from Industry Leaders
The latest capital comes from existing backers Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and MediaTek, as well as new investor Taiwanese data‑center equipment maker Wiwynn Corp. With the new money, Ayar’s total funding raised this year now stands at $650 million.
Expansion Plans and Market Timeline
CEO Mark Wade said the funding will enable Ayar to open a chip‑design center in Bengaluru, India, and to have its optical‑interconnect products qualified for volume production by the end of 2027. The company aims to have its technology ready for customers ramping up in the 2028‑2029 timeframe.
“We build the optical chip, and our optical chip gets fed into our customer’s product,” Wade told Reuters. “If my customers’ products are looking to ramp in the 2028‑2029 time frame, we have to have all of our stuff qualified for volume production by the end of the 2027 time frame.”
Secondary Share Purchase
At the same time, Antero Peak Group at Artisan Partners led a secondary share purchase of $225 million from early employees and investors, valuing Ayar at more than $5 billion. The transaction also included participation from Sequoia Global Equities, ARK Invest and Greycroft.
“From our perspective, the AI infrastructure and optical interconnect industry is at a major inflection point, with optical scale‑up solutions poised to ramp through the end of the decade,” said Chris Smith, founding portfolio manager of the Antero Peak Group.
The funding boost positions Ayar Labs to compete with other chip makers racing to bring optical interconnect technology to market as early as 2028, promising lower heat and higher bandwidth than traditional copper connections.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
