Ayar Labs
Ayar Labs develops silicon-photonics co-packaged optical I/O chiplets (TeraPHY) and external multi-wavelength laser light sources (SuperNova) that replace copper interconnects in AI accelerator and HPC systems. It sells directly to hyperscale cloud operators and AI accelerator OEMs through enterprise field sales and ecosystem partnerships.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersSan Jose, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Ayar Labs does
Ayar Labs, Inc. is a privately held semiconductor company founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Jose, California, that develops silicon-photonics-based optical I/O solutions for AI and high-performance computing infrastructure. Its product portfolio centers on two complementary technologies: the TeraPHY optical I/O chiplet — an industry-first UCIe-compliant silicon-photonics chiplet delivering 8 Tbps bi-directional bandwidth at sub-10 ns latency — and the SuperNova external multi-wavelength laser light source, which is the first CW-WDM MSA-compliant source capable of powering 256 data channels. Together these form a co-packaged optics (CPO) solution designed to replace copper and pluggable-optics interconnects inside AI accelerator packages and rack-scale clusters, enabling 5–10x higher bandwidth, 10x lower latency, and 4–8x better power efficiency than traditional interconnects at reach from mm to km.
The company sells directly to hyperscale cloud operators and AI accelerator, XPU, and switch OEMs through an enterprise field-sales motion that emphasizes system-architecture co-design and long-term commercial agreements, with evaluation kits reserved for customers with committed productization plans. Revenue is generated from hardware sales of TeraPHY chiplets and SuperNova light sources, supplemented by licensing of its 260+ patent portfolio. Distribution is reinforced by ecosystem partnerships with TSMC (COUPE platform), GlobalFoundries, OSATs, ASIC design houses Alchip and GUC, and ODM/JDM partner Wiwynn, alongside strategic investments from NVIDIA, AMD, Intel Capital, MediaTek, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. As of March 2026 the company had raised $870 million across multiple funding rounds at a $3.75 billion post-money valuation, employed approximately 200 people across offices in San Jose, Hsinchu (Taiwan), Boston/Somerville, and Bengaluru, and was scaling from multiple shipped product generations into volume production following its Series E round.
Ayar Labs firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Ayar Labs
- Legal name
- Ayar Labs, Inc.
- Website
- https://ayarlabs.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Ayar Labs develops silicon-photonics co-packaged optical I/O chiplets (TeraPHY) and external multi-wavelength laser light sources (SuperNova) that replace copper interconnects in AI accelerator and HPC systems. It sells directly to hyperscale cloud operators and AI accelerator OEMs through enterprise field sales and ecosystem partnerships.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Ayar Labs industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Optical I/O semiconductors for AI infrastructure
- NAICS
- Semiconductor and Related Device Manufacturing (334413)
- SIC
- Semiconductors & Related Devices (3674), Computer Communications Equipment (3576), Optical Instruments & Lenses (3827)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Optoelectronic Receivers & Transceivers (Photodetectors/Optical Modules) (HDAHALAM)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Optoelectronic Emitters (LED/Laser/VCSEL) (HDAHALAL), AI Hardware IP & Chiplet/Packaging for Accelerators (EDA/IP, advanced packaging) (HDAAAAAL)
Keywords
Where Ayar Labs is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Jose
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices4 records
Markets served
Ayar Labs business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Optical I/O Chiplets and Optical Engines: Ayar Labs generates revenue from the sale of its TeraPHY optical I/O chiplets and SuperNova external light sources to AI accelerator and switch vendors. Products are integrated into customer ASIC packages and sold as components of AI infrastructure systems. Multiple product generations have been shipped with volume production ramping following the $500M Series E funding.
- Licensing and IP: The company holds 260+ patents in photonics and related fields and generates value through technology licensing arrangements within the semiconductor ecosystem.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Ayar Labs product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Ayar Labs designs and sells in-package optical I/O chiplets and multi-wavelength external laser light sources for AI and high-performance computing infrastructure. Its TeraPHY optical I/O chiplet and SuperNova external light source together form a co-packaged optics solution that replaces copper and pluggable optical interconnects between AI accelerators, enabling scale-up across thousands of GPUs/XPUs with high bandwidth and low latency.
Product overview
Ayar Labs offers a unified co-packaged optics (CPO) solution comprising the TeraPHY optical I/O chiplet and SuperNova external light source, both designed for AI scale-up infrastructure. The TeraPHY chiplet integrates silicon photonics with standard CMOS manufacturing, delivering 8 Tbps bandwidth while meeting UCIe compliance. The SuperNova light source provides the multi-wavelength optical carrier in an industry-standard ELSFP form factor. Together, these products enable GPUs to operate as a unified system across racks, solving bandwidth and power limitations that constrain traditional copper interconnects.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- TeraPHY: Optical I/O chiplet optical engine delivering up to 8 Tbps bandwidth, the world's first UCIe optical chiplet.
- SuperNova
Products and services
- TeraPHY Optical I/O Chiplet UCIe-compliant optical I/O chiplet delivering 8 Tbps bidirectional bandwidth using silicon photonics. Combines electronic-photonic integration on a single chip, supporting mm to km reach for chip-to-chip and rack-to-rack connectivity in AI accelerators.
- SuperNova External Light Source Multi-wavelength external laser light source providing up to 16 wavelengths of light across 16 fibers. First CW-WDM MSA-compliant light source, capable of supplying light for 256 data channels (16 Tbps bidirectional). Field-replaceable design in industry-standard ELSFP form factor.
- Co-Packaged Optics Solution Integrated optical I/O solution combining TeraPHY optical engines with SuperNova light sources for AI scale-up. Delivers 5-10x higher bandwidth, 10x lower latency, and 4-8x more power efficiency than traditional copper interconnects and pluggable optics.
- Optical I/O Evaluation Kit Evaluation kit for testing Ayar Labs' optical I/O technology. Currently allocated to customers with committed commercial agreements for productization support.
Quantifiable outcome
- 5-10x higher bandwidth compared to conventional copper and optical pluggables
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Ayar Labs
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Ayar Labs technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability2 records
Feature5 records
Ayar Labs partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered supporting and core.
- Corning, Molex, SENKO, TE ConnectivitysupportingEcosystem partners within the Wiwynn-Ayar Labs joint CPO reference platform. These companies provide components for fiber management, connector solutions, and fiber optic cable management essential for deploying co-packaged optics at hyperscale. Featured at Computex 2026.
- WiwynncoreStrategic partnership to deliver optically connected, rack-scale AI systems supporting next-generation hyperscale AI workloads. Joint solution integrates Ayar Labs' CPO technology (TeraPHY optical engines, SuperNova light sources) into Wiwynn's rack-level architecture. Solution scales to 1,024 AI accelerators and beyond with 100+ Tbps per accelerator; liquid-cooled design with ELSFP light sources. Wiwynn brings rack-level integration and manufacturing capabilities (operations in Taiwan, US, Mexico, Malaysia, Czech Republic). Showcased at OFC 2026 and Computex 2026.
- Global Unichip Corp. (GUC)corePartnership to integrate Ayar Labs' TeraPHY optical I/O chiplets into GUC's XPU reference designs for AI accelerators. Enables co-packaged optics delivering over 200 Tbps aggregate bandwidth — more than 10x faster than current interconnects. GUC provides ASIC design services and system-level silicon integration for hyperscalers. Validation work designed to provide hyperscalers a shortcut to integrating photonics into future designs.
- Intel (DARPA PIPES Project)coreSelected as optical solution for Intel's DARPA PIPES (Photonics in the Package for Exascale Systems) project in 2019. Intel Capital is also an investor in Ayar Labs. Collaboration on optical interconnect technology for defense and HPC applications.
- GlobalFoundriescoreStrategic partnership established in 2017 for silicon photonics manufacturing on GlobalFoundries' foundry platform. Early partnership enabling development and volume production of Ayar Labs' optical I/O chiplets on CMOS-compatible processes.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights7 records
Ayar Labs competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Celestial AI: Celestial AI develops the Photonic Fabric, an optical interconnect platform for AI accelerator memory and compute fabrics. Most direct comparable to Ayar Labs — both target hyperscaler AI scale-up with CPO, raise from similar strategic investors (including AMD Ventures), and chase the same customer set of custom AI ASIC designers.
- Ranovus: Ranovus delivers silicon photonics-based optical interconnects for data center and AI workloads, including CPO solutions. Comparable to Ayar Labs in targeting hyperscalers with multi-wavelength laser-driven optical engines, though Ayar Labs leads in UCIe chiplet standardization.
- POET Technologies: POET Technologies develops integrated photonic platforms (POET Optical Interposer) combining electronic and photonic components on a single interposer for data center and AI applications. Direct peer in optical engines for hyperscale, though Ayar Labs' TeraPHY is more chiplet-focused.
- EFFECT Photonics: EFFECT Photonics builds integrated coherent optical transceivers and DSP solutions for data center interconnect. Comparable in the silicon photonics engine space and addressing similar hyperscale customers, though primarily in coherent pluggable optics rather than CPO chiplets.
Broad incumbents
- Intel (Silicon Photonics): Intel has commercialized silicon photonics transceivers and is developing in-package optical I/O (DARPA PIPES project) that directly overlaps Ayar Labs' CPO roadmap. As a strategic investor and former R&D partner, Intel represents both a potential customer and a direct competitor with deeper manufacturing capability.
- Broadcom: Broadcom is a dominant supplier of optical components, DSPs, and switch silicon for data centers and AI infrastructure. Competes in adjacent optical interconnect categories (pluggable transceivers, switch ASICs) and is pursuing its own optical I/O roadmap, making it a broad incumbent rather than direct CPO peer.
- Marvell (Inphi): Marvell, via its Inphi acquisition, is a leading supplier of high-speed optical DSPs and PAM4 technology for data center interconnects at 800G/1.6T. Comparable in the optical interconnect space for AI infrastructure, though focused on pluggable DSP rather than co-packaged optical chiplets.
- Cisco (Acacia Communications): Cisco's Acacia subsidiary develops coherent optical interconnect technology for telecom and data center networks. Broad incumbent in the optical communications space targeting similar hyperscale and telecom customers, though primarily in coherent pluggable modules rather than CPO.
- Coherent Corp: Coherent Corp (formerly II-VI) is one of the largest merchant suppliers of optical components, including lasers, photodetectors, and transceivers. Comparable as an enabling supplier/incumbent in the photonics stack that could either partner with or compete against Ayar Labs in CPO subsystems.
Emerging players
- Lightmatter: Lightmatter builds photonic processors for AI compute, using silicon photonics for in-package optical interconnects between compute tiles. Comparable in silicon photonics IP and target market (AI infrastructure), though Lightmatter is primarily compute-focused while Ayar Labs focuses on interconnect chiplets.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Ayar Labs social profiles
Digital presenceAyar Labs financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Ayar Labs leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
Ayar Labs funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds14 records
Investors53 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Ayar Labs M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Ayar Labs
What does Ayar Labs do?
Ayar Labs designs and sells in-package optical I/O chiplets and multi-wavelength external laser light sources for AI and high-performance computing infrastructure. Its TeraPHY optical I/O chiplet and SuperNova external light source together form a co-packaged optics solution that replaces copper and pluggable optical interconnects between AI accelerators, enabling scale-up across thousands of GPUs/XPUs with high bandwidth and low latency.
Is Ayar Labs a public or private company?
Ayar Labs is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Ayar Labs founded?
Ayar Labs was founded in 2015. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Ayar Labs based?
Ayar Labs is headquartered in San Jose, United States, in the North America region.
How does Ayar Labs make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Optical I/O Chiplets and Optical Engines are the primary driver. The others are licensing and IP.
Who are Ayar Labs's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Celestial AI, Ranovus, POET Technologies and EFFECT Photonics. Broad incumbents are Intel (Silicon Photonics), Broadcom, Marvell (Inphi), Cisco (Acacia Communications) and Coherent Corp. Lightmatter is listed as an emerging player.
Does Ayar Labs have an API?
No public API is recorded for Ayar Labs.
What industry is Ayar Labs in?
Ayar Labs's product category is Optical I/O semiconductors for AI infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAHALAM, Optoelectronic Receivers & Transceivers (Photodetectors/Optical Modules), with a secondary code of HDAHALAL, Optoelectronic Emitters (LED/Laser/VCSEL). Its NAICS code is 334413 and its SIC code is 3674.