Lightmatter, an MIT spinout based in Mountain View, California, builds Passage, a photonic engine that moves data between AI chips using light. It raised a $400 million Series D in October 2024 at a $4.4 billion valuation.
At a glance
| Price from | Custom |
| Best for | Chipmakers and hyperscalers scaling large AI clusters |
From Lightmatter's own website.
What stands out
- Deep funding and high valuation
- Targets the data-movement limit in AI clusters
Worth knowing
- Builds interconnect rather than compute chips
- Price not published
How it ranks
Lightmatter is ranked 7th of 10 in Best AI Chip Startups (Lister Score 89.3).
#7 in Best AI Chip Startups · Lister Score 89.3
Lightmatter's Series D brought its total funding to $850 million, according to DCD..
| Rank | Best AI Chip Startups | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SambaNova Systems | 96.8 |
| 2 | Etched | 95.6 |
| 3 | Tenstorrent | 94.4 |
| 4 | Positron AI | 93.1 |
| 5 | MatX | 91.9 |
| 6 | Rebellions | 90.6 |
| 7 | Lightmatter | 89.3 |
| 8 | d-Matrix | 88.0 |
| 9 | FuriosaAI | 86.7 |
| 10 | Axelera AI | 85.4 |
Frequently asked questions
How does Lightmatter rank on Lister?
Lightmatter is ranked 7th of 10 in Best AI Chip Startups (Lister Score 89.3).
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