Staera Semiconductor Closes $4.6 Mn to Develop Optical Links for AI Chips

The funding round was led by Openspace Capital, with participation from SGInnovate, Black Kite Capital, 28 Holdings, In Group, and Decimus Technologies.

The company aims to address a growing challenge in AI infrastructure: transferring large amounts of data between processors and memory without consuming excessive energy.

Staera Semiconductor Raises $4.6 Million in Pre-Seed Funding

Staera Semiconductor, formerly known as New Silicon Corporation, secured US$4.6 million to move its optical interconnect technology from research towards commercial development.

The investment will support product development, team expansion in the United States, and collaboration with customers and supply-chain partners.

Lightwire Uses Optical Technology to Connect AI Chips

The company's first product, Lightwire, replaces traditional copper connections with optical links that use light to transfer data.

Copper connections can experience signal loss and performance limitations when transferring large amounts of data across chips, circuit boards, and server racks.

Lightwire is designed to address these limitations by generating light directly inside the chip. It is integrated into the bridge or interposer chip that connects processors and memory in AI hardware, allowing it to work with existing semiconductor packaging processes.

Technology Targets Lower Energy Consumption

Staera says Lightwire is designed to transfer data using less than one-tenth of the energy consumed by today's leading optical links.

The company's technology targets data transfer speeds of 24 terabytes per second (TB/s) using less than 50 watts of power. In comparison, co-packaged optics solutions can consume nearly 1,000 watts, according to the company.

The development comes as demand for AI computing infrastructure increases. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), electricity consumption by data centres could rise from approximately 415 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2024 to around 945 TWh by 2030.

Funding to Support Commercial Development

The latest funding will help Staera move its technology closer to commercial production. The company plans to expand its team in the United States and strengthen relationships with customers and supply-chain partners.

About Staera Semiconductor

Staera Semiconductor is a Singapore-based semiconductor technology company developing optical interconnect solutions for AI chips and computing infrastructure. Formerly known as New Silicon Corporation, the company originated as a spin-off from the Low Energy Electronic Systems research group at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology.

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