Traditional processors such as Intel, AMD, or Nvidia have well-known limitations when it comes to speed, power efficiency, and electromagnetic interference. For example, fundamental chipmakers like TSMC and Samsung are currently races to move to the 3nm process for customers like Apple and Nvidia.
Meanwhile, photonics is becoming a bigger industry as chipmakers seek faster solutions. Unlike electrons, light wavelengths do not interact, which means you can create parallel data streams inside a chip. The global photonics market size was valued at $630 billion in 2021 and is estimated to reach an expected value of $1.1 trillion by 2030, for example.
Startup of all-optical processors Akhetonicthinks he has the answers.
It has now raised €2.3 million in seed funding led by deeptech investors Runa Capital. Other investors include Interface Capital, Rheingau Founders, Thomas Pirschke (co-founder of Trade Republic) and Marie Tai (director of Possible Ventures).
Akhetonics claims to have several prototypes of the optical transistor and the basis for the design of a processor.
Among its competitors are Light material, IntelligenceLight, Optalysys. The Berlin-based startup says its all-optical processors will have higher bandwidth and faster speeds with greater efficiency and information density than electronic processors.
It aims for a full-scale optical processor, with a full prototype by 2024.
“Our mission at Akhetonics is to create an entirely new computing technology – the world’s first universal all-optical processor. We are driven by the ambition to push the boundaries of what is possible in computing,” said Michael Kissner, CEO of Akhetonics in a statement. “The funds raised will play a central role in realizing our vision, accelerating our research and development efforts and allowing us to integrate our revolutionary technology into our first product.
Dmitry Galperin, General Partner of Runa Capital based in Berlin, added: “We see huge opportunities in Akhetonics’ innovative approach to all-optical processing. Their technology has the potential to revolutionize many industries, from high-performance networking and security hardware to quantum computing.
