What Xscape Photonics does

Xscape Photonics, Inc. is a silicon photonics company founded in 2022 as a spinout of Columbia University research by five co-founders — Vivek Raghunathan (CEO), Alexander Gaeta (President), Yoshi Okawachi (VP R&D), Keren Bergman, and Michal Lipson. The company develops programmable multi-wavelength photonic laser chips that target the "escape bandwidth" bottleneck in AI data center fabrics, specifically GPU-to-GPU and GPU-to-HBM optical links. Its core platform, ChromX, is a CMOS silicon wafer-scale photonics stack built around proprietary CombX comb-laser technology that derives multiple coherent wavelengths from a single off-the-shelf DFB pump laser; the company claims 10× higher bandwidth per fiber and 10× lower power at iso-performance versus incumbent solutions, with support for both CWDM and DWDM wavelength grids.

The company productizes ChromX through two commercial interfaces. EagleX, launched June 2025, is a plug-and-play laser chiplet evaluation kit delivering up to 16 O-band wavelengths for customer technology validation. FalconX, launched March 2026, is the first comb-based ELSFP (External Laser Small Form-factor Pluggable) laser module in production, emitting up to 8 O-band wavelengths at 200-GHz spacing with >1 W total optical power and full OIF ELSFP-02.0 compliance. In August 2025, Xscape jointly demonstrated the industry's first optically pumped, monolithically integrated on-chip multi-wavelength laser with Tower Semiconductor on Tower's PH18 foundry platform, establishing a path to high-volume, lower-cost integrated supply.

The go-to-market targets hyperscale cloud data center operators and AI infrastructure OEMs building GPU clusters, with the platform positioned across scale-up, scale-out, and scale-across fabric architectures and supporting Co-Packaged Optics (CPO), Near Package Optics (NPO), and pluggable optics. Revenue mechanics, pricing, and customer commitments are not publicly disclosed; commercial product shipping began only with FalconX in March 2026. As of that date, Xscape had raised approximately $95 million cumulatively across a 2022 seed ($10M led by Altair), a 2023 seed extension ($3M), a 2024 Series A ($44M led by IAG Capital Partners with NVIDIA and Cisco Investments participating), and a 2026 Series A extension ($37M led by Addition). Strategic shareholders NVIDIA and Cisco Investments are positioned as both investors and potential anchor customers, though no purchase orders are publicly confirmed.

Name

Xscape Photonics

Legal name

Xscape Photonics Inc.

Website

https://xscapephotonics.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Xscape Photonics is a silicon photonics company developing multi-wavelength laser chips (ChromX platform, FalconX ELSFP module) for AI data center fabric interconnect, targeting GPU-to-GPU and GPU-to-HBM optical links with claimed 10× bandwidth and 10× power efficiency gains.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Silicon Photonics / Optical Interconnects

NAICS

Semiconductor and Related Device Manufacturing (334413), Fiber Optic Cable Manufacturing (335921), Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing (33441)

SIC

Optical Instruments & Lenses (3827), Semiconductors & Related Devices (3674)

akta.pro primary industry

Optoelectronics & Photonics (LED/Laser/Optical ICs) (HDAHAAAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Optical Transceivers (SFP/SFP+/SFP28/QSFP/QSFP-DD/OSFP) (HDAFAEAE), Photonic (Optical) QPU Systems (HDAGAAAD)

Keywords

• Silicon photonics
• Photonic chips
• AI data center interconnect
• Optical transceivers
• Multi-wavelength lasers

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Core offering

Xscape Photonics develops and sells custom silicon photonics chips and modules for AI data center and high-performance computing connectivity. Its flagship hardware products include the FalconX ELSFP laser module, which generates up to 8 O-band wavelengths from a single DFB pump laser, and the EagleX laser chiplet evaluation kit, which generates up to 16 O-band wavelengths for technology validation. These are built on the proprietary ChromX multi-wavelength photonics platform and CombX laser technology, targeting GPU-to-GPU and GPU-to-HBM optical links in AI clusters.

Product overview

Xscape Photonics offers a silicon-photonics platform-plus-modules architecture centered on its proprietary ChromX multi-wavelength photonics platform, designed to solve escape bandwidth bottlenecks in AI data center fabrics. The ChromX core platform leverages CMOS silicon wafer-scale integration and proprietary CombX technology to deliver 10X higher bandwidth per fiber and 10X lower power versus incumbent copper-based solutions. FalconX is the flagship commercial product — the industry's first ELSFP (External Laser Small Form-factor Pluggable) laser module based on ChromX, emitting up to 8 O-band wavelengths for AI interconnect across scale-up, scale-out, and scale-across data center fabrics, and compliant with the OIF ELSFP-02.0 standard. EagleX is the ChromX Laser Chiplet Evaluation Kit, generating up to 16 O-band wavelengths for customer technology validation in a Plug & Play form factor. Together, FalconX and EagleX represent the productization and validation interfaces of the underlying ChromX platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ChromX: Industry's first programmable multi-wavelength silicon photonics platform designed for custom AI data center fabrics; leverages CMOS silicon wafer scale platform with 10X higher bandwidth per fiber and 10X lower power at iso-performance.
• FalconX
• EagleX
• CombX

Products and services

• ChromX Industry's first programmable multi-wavelength silicon photonics platform for custom AI data center fabrics, built on CMOS wafer-scale integration with proprietary CombX technology, delivering 10X higher bandwidth per fiber and 10X lower power at iso-performance. Supports CWDM and DWDM wavelength grids for GPU-to-GPU and GPU-to-HBM optical links in AI clusters.
• FalconX ELSFP Laser Module Industry's first Comb laser module in a pluggable ELSFP (External Laser Small Form-factor Pluggable) form factor, based on Xscape's proprietary ChromX SiPho platform. Generates up to 8 O-band wavelengths with 200-GHz spacing and >1W total optical output power from a single off-the-shelf DFB pump laser. Fully compliant with OIF ELSFP-02.0 and designed for AI interconnect across scale-up, scale-out, and scale-across data center fabrics supporting Co-Packaged Optics (CPO), Near Package Optics (NPO), and pluggable optics architectures.
• EagleX Laser Chiplet Evaluation Kit Wafer-scale Laser Chiplet Evaluation Kit of the ChromX SiPho platform that generates up to 16 O-band wavelengths in a PM-fiber output from a single off-the-shelf DFB pump laser. Designed as a 'Plug & Play' unit requiring only a power cord and a single fiber connection to an Optical Spectrum Analyzer, used by customers to validate the ChromX platform across AI fabric architectures.

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Ayar Labs: Ayar Labs develops in-package optical I/O chiplets and multi-wavelength laser sources for AI accelerator interconnect. Closest direct competitor to Xscape's ChromX platform, targeting the same GPU-to-GPU and GPU-to-HBM optical escape-bandwidth problem with a chiplet-level integration approach.
• Lightmatter: Lightmatter builds silicon photonic interconnect and compute substrates for AI data centers, including photonic fabric and interposer products for GPU clusters. Competes head-on with Xscape in photonic-enabled AI interconnect, with overlapping customer base among hyperscalers and AI accelerator vendors.
• Celestial AI: Celestial AI develops the Photonic Fabric platform that uses silicon photonics for memory and compute interconnect in AI clusters. Targets the same AI data center optical escape-bandwidth opportunity as Xscape, with a focus on disaggregated memory fabric.

Broad incumbents

• Intel (Silicon Photonics): Intel has a long-running silicon photonics transceiver and on-chip optical interconnect program and operates its own foundry and packaging capability. A broad incumbent whose silicon photonics efforts overlap with Xscape's ChromX roadmap and which already produces silicon photonic transceivers at scale.
• Broadcom: Broadcom ships Ethernet switches co-packaged with silicon photonics chiplets (the 25.6T CPO switch was led by Xscape CEO Vivek Raghunathan). A broad incumbent in optical and networking silicon, with the scale and customer access to dominate any AI interconnect architecture Xscape targets.
• Cisco (Acacia): Cisco, through Acacia, is a leading supplier of coherent optical transceivers for hyperscale data centers. Cisco Investments is also a strategic investor in Xscape, but Acacia remains a broad incumbent competitor in the optics layer for AI and cloud fabrics.
• Marvell (Inphi): Marvell, via its Inphi acquisition, is a leading supplier of DSPs and optical interconnect for cloud data centers and AI fabrics. A broad incumbent whose high-speed optical components directly overlap the bandwidth and power envelope that ChromX is designed to address.
• Lumentum: Lumentum is a leading merchant supplier of lasers and photonic components for cloud and hyperscale data centers, and acquired NeoPhotonics in 2022. Multiple Xscape executives (Nicolas Herriau, Joseph Vanniasinkam) and advisors (Tim Jenks) are Lumentum/NeoPhotonics alumni, making Lumentum both a key comparable and a potential talent/customer channel.
• Coherent: Coherent is one of the largest diversified photonics and laser suppliers, with a broad datacom transceiver portfolio serving hyperscalers. A broad incumbent competitor with vertical integration from laser sources to transceivers that competes in the same AI data center optical interconnect market.

Others

• Tower Semiconductor: Tower Semiconductor is Xscape's foundry partner for the PH18 silicon photonics platform on which ChromX and the multi-wavelength laser are fabricated. While not a competitor, Tower's roadmap and capacity directly govern Xscape's ability to scale ChromX and FalconX to volume.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/xscape-photonics-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Xscape Photonics