Photon Bridge has raised €10 million to increase the production of lasers used to connect AI processors in data centres.
The funding round was co-led by new investors Amadeus APEX Technology Fund and 360 Capital. Existing investors Innovation Industries, Faber and Brabant Development Agency (BOM) also participated by increasing their investments.
The company aims to address the growing demand for lasers as AI data centres expand. According to Omdia, more than 20 million AI accelerators are expected to be shipped for data centres annually by 2028. As AI systems grow larger, moving data quickly between processors is becoming a major challenge.
Photon Bridge develops technology that uses light to transfer data between chips. Optical connections can move large amounts of data faster and more efficiently than traditional electrical connections. However, the growing use of this technology requires a much larger supply of lasers.
“AI is fundamentally changing the way computing infrastructure is built,” said Paul Marchal, CEO of Photon Bridge. “We are moving towards enormous systems in which hundreds of thousands of processors have to operate together, and moving data between them is becoming one of the defining constraints on performance.
“That means optics has to move closer to the compute. But it also creates an entirely different manufacturing challenge. The industry will soon need millions of these laser sources every year. Instead of making individual lasers increasingly powerful and difficult to manufacture, we move that scaling challenge into the architecture.”
“Every new wave of compute creates new bottlenecks further down the supply chain, and lasers are the next one,” said Ion Hauer, Investment Partner at APEX Ventures. “Photon Bridge is addressing this with a technology that combines deep photonics expertise with a credible path towards manufacturing at very large scale.”
“AI is turning lasers from a telecom component into a semiconductor-scale product,” said Cesare Maifredi, Partner at 360 Capital. “Once you start talking about millions of units a year, manufacturing yield becomes fundamental. Photon Bridge has designed its architecture from the beginning around the volumes this market is going to require.”
The company has developed a system that combines light from multiple lower-power semiconductor lasers instead of relying on a few high-power lasers. This approach can reduce the impact of manufacturing defects, improve production yields and support large-scale manufacturing.
Photon Bridge’s technology is designed to meet the growing demand for optical connections in AI data centres. It also supports production through multiple indium phosphide (InP) foundries, which manufacture the semiconductor components used in its lasers.
The company will use the new funding to speed up product development, work with customers to qualify its technology and prepare for commercial production. It plans to deliver its first product samples in 2027 and begin large-scale manufacturing in 2028.
Photon Bridge will also expand its team in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, as it moves towards commercialisation.
About Photon Bridge
Photon Bridge develops laser technology for optical connections in AI data centres. Its platform combines light from multiple semiconductor lasers to provide the power and wavelengths needed to connect large AI systems while supporting high-volume production.
