NTT DOCOMO Ventures invests in co-packaged optics upstart Ayar Labs

Dec. 18, 2024
The Japanese company wants to enhance its relationship with the up-and-coming optical company.

NTT DOCOMO Ventures, a corporate venture fund that invests in promising startups, has invested in Ayar Labs, a developer and provider of next-gen optical I/O technologies.

Through this investment, NTT Group seeks to deepen its collaboration with Ayar Labs, which approaches optical interconnect development from a unique perspective.

Founded in 2015, San Francisco-based Ayar Labs is an optical interconnect solutions company that integrates optical components directly on silicon substrates to develop advanced solutions such as ” Chiplets” and “Interconnects.”

These components enable Co-Packaged Optics (CPO), a groundbreaking approach that embeds optical communication capabilities directly within a chip package, servers, network devices, and other hardware.

Ayar Labs facilitates data transmission through these technologies using optical signals at the chip level and between chips. Ayar Labs claims this innovation delivers various improvements: bandwidth increases of 5–10 times, energy efficiency gains of 4–8 times, and latency reductions to one-tenth of current levels.

The company’s solutions are poised for deployment in data centers, AI systems, and sectors such as aerospace, high-performance computing, and telecommunications.

Like other large telecom providers, NTT is keenly aware that data transmission demands a surge in data centers and AI systems, and the need for faster communication speeds and reduced power consumption has become a critical challenge.

NTT sees an opportunity to incorporate optical signaling into its Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN), built around photonic technology for ultra-high capacity, ultra-low latency, and ultra-low power consumption.

Besides NTT, Ayar Labs has secured $155 million in financing led by Advent Global Opportunities and Light Street Capita, bringing the company’s total funding to $370 million and raises the company’s valuation to above $1 billion.

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About the Author

Sean Buckley

Sean is responsible for establishing and executing the editorial strategies of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report across their websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products.

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