Celestial AI™, creator of the Photonic Fabric™ optical interconnect technology platform, recently announced that it has raised an additional $250 million in venture capital, bringing its total raised to date to $515 million. The AI startup is working hard to crack a key speed constraint in artificial intelligence. Recently, it has tapped photonics, a technology that uses light in order to create speedy links between AI computing chips and memory chips.
The Series C1 funding round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, with new investors including funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Maverick Silicon, Tiger Global Management and Lip-Bu Tan, as well as participation from existing investors including AMD Ventures, and Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), to name a few.
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The photonic-based technology Celestial AI uses improves memory bandwidth, a key factor in AI performance. Currently, Nvidia reigns supreme in memory bandwidth due to its proprietary technologies called NVLink and NVSwitch. However, Celestial AI, like several other chip firms, is striving to come up with alternatives.
Celestial AI is developing a technology that can sit like a bridge between two or more chips, leveraging a different kind of photonics technology than its competitors. According to Celestial AI CEO Dave Lazovsky, the goal of this “photonic fabric, is to offer speed while saving space and power.
“There are no good answers right outside of Nvidia. What we had created with the photonic fabric does the same thing, but at a different level of energy efficiency and of latency.”
– Celestial AI CEO Dave Lazovsky
The Photonic Fabric technology by Celestial AI is fully compatible with industry standard manufacturing and 2.5D packaging processes. Through this funding, the company will be able to expand and qualify its volume manufacturing supply-chain to serve customer demand.
“Celestial AI’s Photonic Fabric is fundamentally transforming AI computing, networking and memory solutions by addressing critical infrastructure challenges with unmatched performance and energy efficiency. I have witnessed the innovative potential of their technology to unlock new capabilities and as a member of the Board of Directors, am proud to be on the Celestial AI team as they commercialize their ground-breaking Photonic Fabric platform.”
-Diane Bryant, Independent Director at Celestial AI and Broadcom Inc.
For this article, we selected AI stocks by going through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds. The hedge fund data is as of Q4 2024.
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10. Synaptics Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 27
Synaptics Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA) is a global developer and fabless supplier of premium mixed-signal semiconductor solutions that enable interaction with connected devices and data. On March 10, the company revealed that it has extended its award-winning Veros™ Triple Combo connectivity portfolio with the SYN461x family, a set of ultra-low power (ULP) wireless system-on-chips (SoCs).
The chips support Wi-Fi® 2.4/5/6 GHz, Bluetooth® 6.0 and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and IEEE 802.15.4 (Zigbee®/Thread®), enabling seamless connectivity for wearables, smart watches, audio speakers and headsets, home appliances, security cameras, asset trackers, and factory automation.
“The SYN461x family is a breakthrough addition to our Veros portfolio. The SoCs are our first in a series designed from the ground up for ULP embedded Edge AI IoT applications. We believe their low-power architecture, software support, and low-density packaging extend our broad-market reach and position us to share in a ~$3.2 billion1 market opportunity.”
-Vineet Ganju, VP of Wireless Product Marketing at Synaptics.
9. Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:CRDO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 43
Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:CRDO) provides high-speed connectivity solutions for Ethernet applications; serving hyperscalers, OEMs, and data centers. Analysts made a noteworthy call on Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd for Monday, March 10. Susquehanna, in particular, upgraded the stock to “Positive” from neutral, stating that it has upgraded the data infrastructure solutions company. The firm finds the stock’s valuation compelling.
“We initiated on Credo last December with a Neutral rating as we expressed concern around its rich valuation, despite its compelling AI networking story. With shares -50% off the peak and fundamentals strengthening, we are revisiting the story with an upgrade.”