Volantis
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
Volantis firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Volantis
- Legal name
- Volantis Semiconductor
- Website
- https://volantissemi.net
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Volantis industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI Semiconductor Hardware
- NAICS
- Semiconductor and Related Device Manufacturing (334413)
- SIC
- Electronic Computers (3571)
- akta.pro primary industry
- AI Accelerators (GPUs/TPUs/NPUs/ASICs) (HDAAAAAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AI Inference Hardware & Edge Accelerators (HDAAAAAC), AI Hardware IP & Chiplet/Packaging for Accelerators (EDA/IP, advanced packaging) (HDAAAAAL), Compute & Acceleration ICs (CPU/GPU/AI/FPGA/ASIC) (HDAHABAC)
Keywords
Where Volantis is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Volantis 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
- Photonic Hardware Sales: Sale of Volantis Photonic Motherboards and AGI infrastructure boxes containing arrays of photonic motherboards. Hardware products scheduled for launch Q2 2026 with pre-orders beginning Q1 2026.
- Cloud API Access: Cloud-based API access to photonic compute capabilities, providing usage-based access to the technology without requiring upfront hardware purchase.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels4 records
Volantis product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Volantis designs and manufactures photonic AI chips, including the Volantis Photonic Motherboard, a hardware platform using direct modulation and waveguides instead of fiber to deliver 10x-100x more bandwidth and 15x faster AI inference per dollar than Nvidia B100s. It packages these into the AGI Infrastructure Box, a pre-configured system supporting up to 400 nodes and 24TB of memory, with cloud API access as an alternative engagement model.
Product overview
Volantis is a semiconductor startup developing photonic compute architecture for AI applications. The company's core product portfolio consists of the Volantis Photonic Motherboard (a breakthrough hardware infrastructure that uses photons for inference at the speed of light, going beyond silicon photonics with direct modulation and waveguides) and the Volantis AGI Infrastructure Box (a pre-configured system containing an array of photonic motherboards). The products work together to provide AGI infrastructure: the Photonic Motherboard serves as the fundamental building block, while the AGI Infrastructure Box packages multiple motherboards into a deployable computing system targeting bandwidth and power bottlenecks in AI data centers.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Volantis Photonic Motherboard Hardware infrastructure platform using photonic technology with direct modulation and waveguides instead of traditional fiber optics, designed for AI inference workloads. Delivers 10x wire density and 15x faster AI inference per dollar than Nvidia B100s for AI/AGI infrastructure operators.
- Volantis AGI Infrastructure Box Pre-configured computing system containing an array of Volantis Photonic Motherboards, designed for AGI workloads. Supports up to 400 nodes and up to 24TB of memory, includes cloud API access, and delivers 15x faster performance per dollar than Nvidia B100 GPUs for AI/AGI infrastructure operators.
Quantifiable outcome
- 15x faster AI inference per dollar compared to Nvidia B100s
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Volantis
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Volantis technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Volantis partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators5 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Volantis competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Lightmatter: Lightmatter develops photonic processors and interconnects for AI compute, making it the closest direct peer to Volantis. Both companies target AI inference and inter-node communication with silicon photonics, though Lightmatter is further along in commercialization and has raised significantly more capital.
- Ayar Labs: Ayar Labs builds optical I/O chiplets and in-package photonic interconnect solutions for AI and HPC. Volantis's CTO Roy Meade was previously VP of Manufacturing at Ayar Labs, and both companies pursue photonic communication inside compute systems — a closely aligned technical thesis.
- Celestial AI: Celestial AI develops photonic fabric technology for AI memory and compute interconnect. Its Photonic Fabric platform directly competes with Volantis's photonic motherboard for AI accelerator bandwidth and inter-node communication workloads.
- Lightelligence: Lightelligence is developing photonic computing chips for AI workloads, with a similar goal of accelerating inference using optical computing. It is a directly comparable photonic AI compute peer, though based in China with different geographic reach.
Broad incumbents
- Nvidia: Nvidia is the dominant AI accelerator incumbent whose B100/H100/Rubin GPUs define the performance and ecosystem benchmark Volantis explicitly compares against. While not a photonic peer, Nvidia represents the strategic incumbent whose CUDA moat and roadmap Volantis must overcome.
- AMD: AMD's Instinct MI series competes with Nvidia in AI training and inference and represents a broader-ecosystem incumbent alternative. AMD's ROCm software stack and hyperscaler relationships make it a relevant comparator for any AI accelerator challenger.
- Intel (Habana Labs): Intel's Habana Labs division produces Gaudi AI accelerators and is part of Intel Foundry's broader push into AI silicon. It represents a broader incumbent alternative with packaging, foundry, and ecosystem capabilities that Volantis lacks.
Emerging players
- Cerebras Systems: Cerebras builds wafer-scale AI accelerators for training and inference. While not photonic, it competes for the same AI compute customer budget and represents an alternative architectural approach to breaking the memory/bandwidth bottleneck.
- Groq: Groq builds LPU inference accelerators optimized for low-latency AI inference, offering cloud API access. Its usage-based inference model mirrors Volantis's cloud API motion and targets similar AI infrastructure customers.
- Tenstorrent: Tenstorrent develops RISC-V based AI accelerators for training and inference, competing for design wins with hyperscalers and AI labs. While architectural approach differs, Tenstorrent is a peer emerging AI chip vendor targeting similar enterprise customers.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Volantis social profiles
Digital presenceVolantis financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Volantis leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Volantis funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Volantis 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 Volantis
What does Volantis do?
Volantis designs and manufactures photonic AI chips, including the Volantis Photonic Motherboard, a hardware platform using direct modulation and waveguides instead of fiber to deliver 10x-100x more bandwidth and 15x faster AI inference per dollar than Nvidia B100s. It packages these into the AGI Infrastructure Box, a pre-configured system supporting up to 400 nodes and 24TB of memory, with cloud API access as an alternative engagement model.
Is Volantis a public or private company?
Volantis is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Volantis founded?
Volantis was founded in 2018. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Volantis based?
Volantis is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Volantis make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Photonic Hardware Sales are the primary driver. The others are cloud API Access.
Who are Volantis's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Lightmatter, Ayar Labs, Celestial AI and Lightelligence. Broad incumbents are Nvidia, AMD and Intel (Habana Labs). Emerging players are Cerebras Systems, Groq and Tenstorrent.
Does Volantis have an API?
Yes. Cloud API access is available for the Volantis AGI infrastructure box, enabling developers to access photonic compute capabilities via cloud interface.
What industry is Volantis in?
Volantis's product category is AI Semiconductor Hardware. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAAAAA, AI Accelerators (GPUs/TPUs/NPUs/ASICs), with a secondary code of HDAAAAAC, AI Inference Hardware & Edge Accelerators. Its NAICS code is 334413 and its SIC code is 3571.