News: Optoelectronics
3 July 2023
Sivers Photonics receives $1m order from Ayar Labs
IC and integrated module supplier Sivers Semiconductors AB of Kista, Sweden says that its subsidiary Sivers Photonics of Glasgow, Scotland, UK has received a new order worth $1m (about SEK11m) from silicon photonics-based chip-to-chip optical connectivity firm Ayar Labs of Santa Clara, CA, USA for the development of laser arrays that support applications including high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML). The order deepens Sivers’ strategic collaboration with Ayar Labs, which is working on scaling its in-package optical I/O solution for volume production.
With this order the companies enter the next phase of their partnership with a focus on the continued development and commercialization of Sivers’ distributed feedback (DFB) laser arrays supporting Ayar Labs’ optical I/O solution, which is currently enabling 4Tb/s bidirectional chip-to-chip optical connectivity. The order will be delivered across 2023 and 2024 and includes agreed commercial terms for volume pricing in anticipation of future manufacturing by Sivers at larger volumes.
Sivers Photonics says that its DFB laser arrays provide the high-quality light source for Ayar Labs’ SuperNova remote optical source product as they scale to volume production across a broad range of applications including AI/ML interconnects, disaggregated data centers, 6G networks, and phased-array sensor systems.
In May, Ayar Labs closed a second round of Series C funding, raising it to $155m. The additional C round was led by Capital TEN and included VentureTech Alliance and participation by previous investors Boardman Bay Capital Management, IAG Capital Partners, NVIDIA, and Tyche Partners. Other Series C existing strategic and financial investors include Applied Ventures, GlobalFoundries, Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, Intel Capital and Lockheed Martin Ventures.
“We are excited to continue our strong relationship with Ayar Labs after our successful joint demos at both ECOC 2022 and OFC 2023,” says Sivers Photonics’ interim managing director & chief technology officer Dr Andrew McKee. “Utilizing our proven technology, Ayar Labs can confidently deliver to their customers at scale, all whilst leveraging the continued growth of the CW-WDM MSA ecosystem for high-bandwidth and channel-count laser solutions,” he adds.
“We value Sivers as an essential part of our thriving ecosystem, as they have consistently proven to be a responsive and reliable supplier in meeting our SuperNova product commitments,” comments Ayar Labs’ CEO Charlie Wuischpard. “The ability to deliver high-quality remote light sources at volume and maintain an aggressive development roadmap are important to commercializing our optical I/O solutions,” he adds.
“Ayar Labs is revolutionizing the way CPUs and GPUs will communicate within next-generation HPC and AI/ML architectures,” comments Sivers Semiconductors’ group CEO Anders Storm. “By enabling the switch to optical interconnect technology versus traditional electrical links, Ayar’s solution, leveraging Sivers technology, will provide a dramatic step-change in the required bandwidth, power and latency improvements necessary for these complex systems to scale and meet the exploding demand for AI/ML clusters. With the massive growth of generative AI, we believe this is just the beginning and are excited to support our customers in enabling the AI revolution.”
Sivers Photonics receives $1.3m order from US
