Lightmatter Inc.

Lightmatter Inc. is a privately held company specializing in the development of photonic computing and interconnect hardware for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. Founded in 2017 by MIT researchers Nicholas Harris, Darius Bunandar, and Thomas Graham, the company's core mission is to advance computing capabilities by leveraging light instead of electrons for data processing and communication, thereby addressing critical bottlenecks in AI at scale. Lightmatter's headquarters are located in Mountain View, California.

Lightmatter's key product offerings include the Passage™ photonic interconnect platform and the Guide® VLSP (Very Large Scale Photonics) light engine. These technologies are designed to provide high-bandwidth, energy-efficient data movement and processing for hyperscale data center operators, cloud providers, and AI system designers. The company's solutions aim to overcome the limitations of traditional electronic interconnects, enabling more efficient and powerful AI supercomputers.

In October 2024, Lightmatter raised $400 million in Series D funding, bringing its total capital raised to $850 million and valuing the company at $4.4 billion. This funding is intended to support the mass deployment of its Passage technology in partner data centers. The leadership team includes CEO Nicholas Harris, Chief Scientist Darius Bunandar, Head of Machine Learning Thomas Graham, and CFO Simona Jankowski, who joined in 2024. Lightmatter is positioned as a leader in the photonic computing space, aiming to revolutionize AI infrastructure by delivering significant advancements in energy efficiency and performance.