Celestial AI
Celestial AI developed Photonic Fabric, a proprietary optical interconnect platform using light for data movement within and between AI chips, targeting hyperscalers and AI data center operators. The company was acquired by Marvell Technology in February 2026 for approximately $3.25 billion.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersSanta Clara, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Celestial AI does
Celestial AI was a Santa Clara, California-based semiconductor startup founded in 2020 that developed Photonic Fabric, a proprietary optical interconnect technology platform using light rather than electrical signals for data movement within and between AI chips. The technology targets the bandwidth, latency, and power-consumption bottlenecks of conventional electrical interconnects in large-scale AI data center deployments, and enables disaggregated memory-compute architectures designed to address the so-called 'memory wall' bottleneck in AI training and inference. The company built hybrid photonic-electronic AI processors and complementary interconnect components targeting hyperscalers, AI chip manufacturers, and custom silicon designers.
The company pursued a B2B enterprise field sales motion targeting hyperscaler and AI data center customers, with go-to-market executed through direct engagements, industry conference presence (e.g., OFC), and strategic investor introductions. Pre-acquisition, Celestial AI was pre-revenue with no publicly disclosed product pricing or commercial licensing revenue; its revenue model was oriented toward licensing and technology integration with semiconductor partners such as Broadcom. The company raised approximately $520–586 million across six funding rounds from 2020 to March 2025, with investors including Temasek's Xora Innovation fund, Koch Disruptive Technologies, IAG Capital Partners, AMD Ventures, Samsung Catalyst, and Fidelity Management & Research Co., reaching a $2.5 billion valuation at the Series C1 in March 2025.
In December 2025, Marvell Technology announced its acquisition of Celestial AI for approximately $3.25 billion (with potential earnouts up to $5.5 billion tied to revenue milestones), consisting of $1 billion in cash and approximately 27.2 million Marvell shares; the deal closed on February 2, 2026. Following the acquisition, Celestial AI's Photonic Fabric technology was integrated into Marvell's Data Center Group and into NVIDIA's NVLink Fusion ecosystem, where it demonstrated up to 1.8 TB/s bidirectional bandwidth. Marvell projected the integrated business to contribute $500 million in annualized revenue by Q4 fiscal 2028, doubling to $1 billion by Q4 fiscal 2029. As of February 2026, Celestial AI operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marvell Technology Inc.
Celestial AI firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Celestial AI
- Legal name
- Celestial AI Inc.
- Website
- https://celestial.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Acquired
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Celestial AI developed Photonic Fabric, a proprietary optical interconnect platform using light for data movement within and between AI chips, targeting hyperscalers and AI data center operators. The company was acquired by Marvell Technology in February 2026 for approximately $3.25 billion.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Celestial AI industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Optical Interconnect Technology
- NAICS
- Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing (334511), Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Manufacturing (336414)
- SIC
- Search, Detection, Navagation, Guidance, Aeronautical Sys (3812), Guided Missiles & Space Vehicles & Parts (3760)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Autonomous Flight Control & Guidance Systems (UAS/Urban Air Mobility) (IMABAFAO)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Autonomy Software, AI & Mission Management (UAS/UXV) (IMABAIAH)
Keywords
Where Celestial AI is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Santa Clara
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Celestial AI business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Photonic Fabric Technology Licensing/Integration: Celestial AI generated revenue by licensing its Photonic Fabric technology to semiconductor companies and data center operators. The technology was designed to be integrated into AI accelerators and data center infrastructure. Post-acquisition by Marvell, the technology became part of Marvell's optical interconnect portfolio targeting AI data center applications. No standalone revenue figures were publicly disclosed.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels3 records
Celestial AI product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Celestial AI develops and licenses its Photonic Fabric optical interconnect technology platform, a hybrid photonic-electronic system that uses light for data movement within and between AI chips. The technology enables high-bandwidth, low-latency, and energy-efficient data transfer for AI accelerators and disaggregated data center memory and computing architectures. The company also develops hybrid photonic-electronic AI processors that integrate photonic and electronic components to improve AI computing performance.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Photonic Fabric: Optical interconnect technology platform for disaggregated data center memory and computing that uses light for data movement within and between chips
Products and services
- Photonic Fabric
Quantifiable outcome
- Up to 1.8 TB/s bidirectional bandwidth in NVLink Fusion configurations under Marvell's NVIDIA partnership
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Celestial AI
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Celestial AI technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Celestial AI partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- NVIDIAcoreMarvell integrated Celestial AI's Photonic Fabric technology into NVIDIA's NVLink Fusion ecosystem, enabling up to 1.8 TB/s bidirectional bandwidth alongside NVIDIA GPUs and CPUs. Marvell and NVIDIA co-developed silicon photonics technology for faster data transmission in AI data centers. NVIDIA also made a $2 billion strategic investment in Marvell in 2026.
- Marvell TechnologycoreMarvell Technology acquired Celestial AI in February 2026 for approximately $3.25 billion (up to $5.5 billion with earnout). The acquisition integrated Celestial AI's Photonic Fabric technology into Marvell's Data Center Group, enhancing Marvell's optical connectivity capabilities for next-generation AI systems. Marvell expected Celestial AI to contribute $500M in annualized revenue by Q4 fiscal 2028, doubling to $1B by Q4 fiscal 2029.
- BroadcomminorCelestial AI established a manufacturing partnership with Broadcom to support the development and scaling of its photonic-electronic AI processor technology. The partnership was intended to support product commercialization and expand engineering and product development capabilities.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Celestial AI competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Ayar Labs: Ayar Labs develops optical I/O chiplets for in-package and chip-to-chip optical interconnects targeting AI and HPC workloads, directly competing with Celestial AI's Photonic Fabric in disaggregated compute-memory architectures.
- Lightmatter: Lightmatter builds photonic computing and interconnect platforms (Envise, Passage) for AI data centers using similar silicon-photonics fundamentals, competing directly with Celestial AI in optical interconnects and AI accelerator compute.
- POET Technologies: POET Technologies provides photonics-based chip packaging and optical engine technology used in AI data center interconnects; it was a customer/partner of Celestial AI and operates in the same optical interconnect supply chain.
Broad incumbents
- Marvell Technology: Marvell acquired Celestial AI in February 2026 and is its parent company; Marvell already had a broad optical DSP and interconnect portfolio (PAM DSPs, coherent DSPs, DCI optical modules) for hyperscaler data centers, making it both the commercialization vehicle and an incumbent in the same space.
- Broadcom: Broadcom was a manufacturing partner of Celestial AI and is itself a leading supplier of optical components, switching ASICs, and AI networking silicon to hyperscalers, making it a directly comparable incumbent in optical interconnects and AI infrastructure.
- Intel (Silicon Photonics): Intel has one of the most mature silicon photonics platforms (used in its optical transceivers and networking products) targeting data center and AI interconnect applications, overlapping directly with Celestial AI's value proposition at incumbent scale.
- Cisco (Acacia Communications): Cisco's Acacia unit designs coherent optical interconnect modules and DSPs for data center and DCI applications, serving hyperscaler customers with optical technology directly comparable to Celestial AI's photonic interconnect platform.
- NVIDIA: NVIDIA's NVLink, NVSwitch, and NVLink Fusion define the AI accelerator interconnect ecosystem into which Celestial AI's technology is now integrated, making NVIDIA a strategic ecosystem anchor and a broad incumbent shaping the optical interconnect opportunity.
Emerging players
- Ranovus: Ranovus develops silicon photonics-based optical interconnect solutions (Odin and Polaris platforms) for AI/HPC data centers, targeting chip-to-chip and rack-scale optical connectivity comparable to Celestial AI's Photonic Fabric.
Others
- PsiQuantum: PsiQuantum uses silicon photonics as the foundation of its quantum computing platform; while the end market (quantum) differs, the underlying photonic fabrication and integration challenges are highly comparable to Celestial AI's photonic-electronic AI processors.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Celestial AI social profiles
Digital presenceCelestial AI financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Celestial AI leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Celestial AI funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors21 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Celestial AI 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 Celestial AI
What does Celestial AI do?
Celestial AI develops and licenses its Photonic Fabric optical interconnect technology platform, a hybrid photonic-electronic system that uses light for data movement within and between AI chips. The technology enables high-bandwidth, low-latency, and energy-efficient data transfer for AI accelerators and disaggregated data center memory and computing architectures. The company also develops hybrid photonic-electronic AI processors that integrate photonic and electronic components to improve AI computing performance.
Is Celestial AI a public or private company?
Celestial AI is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently acquired.
When was Celestial AI founded?
Celestial AI was founded in 2020. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Celestial AI based?
Celestial AI is headquartered in Santa Clara, United States, in the North America region.
How does Celestial AI make money?
One revenue line is on record: photonic Fabric Technology Licensing/Integration.
Who are Celestial AI's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Ayar Labs, Lightmatter and POET Technologies. Broad incumbents are Marvell Technology, Broadcom, Intel (Silicon Photonics), Cisco (Acacia Communications) and NVIDIA. Ranovus is listed as an emerging player. PsiQuantum is listed as an others.
Does Celestial AI have an API?
No public API is recorded for Celestial AI.
What industry is Celestial AI in?
Celestial AI's product category is Optical Interconnect Technology. Its primary akta.pro industry code is IMABAFAO, Autonomous Flight Control & Guidance Systems (UAS/Urban Air Mobility), with a secondary code of IMABAIAH, Autonomy Software, AI & Mission Management (UAS/UXV). Its NAICS code is 334511 and its SIC code is 3812.