{"version":1,"type":"story","url":"https://digestai.news/story/volantis-raises-88m-to-link-ai-chips-and-memory-with-lasers","json":"https://digestai.news/story/volantis-raises-88m-to-link-ai-chips-and-memory-with-lasers.json","markdown":"https://digestai.news/story/volantis-raises-88m-to-link-ai-chips-and-memory-with-lasers.md","slug":"volantis-raises-88m-to-link-ai-chips-and-memory-with-lasers","headline":"Volantis raises $88M Series A to build photonic AI inference system","summary":"Volantis, a San Francisco semiconductor firm, announced a **$88 million Series A** on October 1, 2026, co-led by Lachy Groom and Abstract Ventures. The round includes investors like John Doerr, VXI Capital, and angel investors Dwarkesh Patel and Naveen Rao. Total funding now stands at **$97 million**, with backers including Sam Altman, Jeff Dean, and Dylan Patel. The capital will accelerate development of **A-1**, a photonic AI inference system targeting datacenter deployment in **2027**.\n\nVolantis claims its **A-1 system** solves a ‘memory wall’ in AI hardware by combining high memory capacity and bandwidth—nearly two orders of magnitude better than current solutions. The company says it can run models with **over 20 trillion parameters** at **10,000 tokens per second per user**, cutting inference costs per token. Benchmarks against NVIDIA’s Rubin highlight **15x better tokens per dollar** and **30x lower latency** for large-model inference. The system uses **photonic interconnects** to link compute chips and memory, scaling to **240 TB/s bandwidth** with **10 TB memory capacity** in a **15U datacenter rack**.","keyPoints":["Volantis raised **$88M Series A** with investors including Sam Altman, Jeff Dean, and John Doerr, bringing total funding to **$97M**","A-1 system targets **2027 deployment**, claims **20T+ parameter support** and **10k tokens/sec per user** with photonic memory architecture","Company asserts **15x better tokens per dollar** vs. NVIDIA Rubin and **30x lower latency** for large-model inference"],"whyItMatters":"Volantis’ photonic approach could redefine AI hardware efficiency, addressing bottlenecks in memory-bandwidth tradeoffs for large models. If successful, it may reduce inference costs and latency, accelerating AI agent performance in enterprise and cloud deployments.","category":{"slug":"hardware","name":"Hardware & Compute","url":"https://digestai.news/category/hardware"},"entities":{"companies":["Volantis","NVIDIA","OpenAI","Google","Meta","Y Combinator"],"models":[],"people":["Tapa Ghosh","Roy Meade","Inderjit Singh","Daniel Klowden","Chris Chase","Lachy Groom"]},"firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-01T15:45:03Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-01T15:45:03Z","sourceCount":2,"hasPrimarySource":false,"sources":[{"outlet":"Unite.AI","title":"Volantis Raises $88M Series A to Build Photonic AI Inference System","url":"https://unite.ai/volantis-raises-88m-series-a-to-build-photonic-ai-inference-system","publishedAt":"2026-10-01T09:12:00Z","type":"press","primary":false,"lead":true},{"outlet":"reuters.com","title":"Volantis, which aims to use vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, used in the iPhone's Face ID, to transmit data between AI and memory chips, raised $88M","url":"https://reuters.com/business/volantis-raises-88-million-tech-connect-ai-memory-chips-2026-10-01","publishedAt":"2026-10-01T15:45:03Z","type":"press","primary":false,"lead":false}],"sourceNotes":null,"discussions":[],"thread":null,"cite":{"text":"Digest AI, \"Volantis raises $88M Series A to build photonic AI inference system\", 1 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/volantis-raises-88m-to-link-ai-chips-and-memory-with-lasers","publisher":"Digest AI","title":"Volantis raises $88M Series A to build photonic AI inference system","datePublished":"2026-10-01T15:45:03Z","url":"https://digestai.news/story/volantis-raises-88m-to-link-ai-chips-and-memory-with-lasers"},"generatedBy":"Written by Digest AI's editorial model from the linked sources; the sources are the record.","license":"Headlines, digests and key points are written by Digest AI and may be quoted with a link to the story page. Linked articles belong to their publishers. Terms: https://digestai.news/terms#reuse"}