As artificial intelligence models grow larger and data centres expand to accommodate increasingly demanding workloads, moving information between processors is becoming a major infrastructure challenge. Salience Labs, a developer of photonic chips for AI data centre connectivity, has raised $125 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round to scale its optical switching technology, expand manufacturing and accelerate commercial deployment.
The round was led by Bullhound Capital, with participation from AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, SBI Group, Hudson River Trading and British Business Bank. Existing investors Applied Ventures, Oxford Science Enterprises, Cambridge Innovation Capital and Silicon Catalyst Ventures also participated. Callum Stewart, principal at Bullhound Capital, will join the company’s board of directors.
Addressing the AI Networking Bottleneck
Modern AI data centres depend on large numbers of graphics processing units, or GPUs, working together to train and operate advanced models. As these systems grow, transferring information efficiently between processors becomes increasingly important to overall performance.
Traditional electrical switching infrastructure can add latency, consume substantial power and increase the complexity of connecting computing resources. Salience Labs is developing optical circuit switching technology that uses light to direct data between network connections, aiming to reduce these limitations.
Its fully integrated, all optical architecture is designed to connect thousands of GPUs across multiple racks. The company believes this approach can help data centres improve network performance while managing energy consumption and operating costs as AI infrastructure expands.
Photonic Chips Designed for Scale
Salience Labs builds on more than a decade of research into silicon photonics, a technology that integrates optical components with semiconductor manufacturing techniques. Its approach is designed to support high speed communication while remaining compatible with established manufacturing processes.
According to the company, its optical switching technology can reduce network latency, lower power consumption and eliminate the need for certain power hungry optical transceivers used in conventional electrical switching systems.
The company’s OC 32M module is a 32 port all optical switch designed for data centre integration. It supports low latency switching and flexible high speed interfaces, with the aim of helping operators build more efficient connections between computing resources.
64 Port Demonstration Marks Progress
The funding follows Salience Labs’ demonstration of a 64 port all optical photonic switch at ECOC 2026. The company describes the demonstration as an industry first for silicon photonics based optical circuit switching.
It is also developing 128 port and 256 port switches to support larger networks and additional applications in data intensive environments. These products are intended to extend the technology’s potential as AI systems require more bandwidth and more efficient communication between processors.
CEO and co founder Vaysh Kewada said optical circuit switching will play an important role in AI data centre networking. She highlighted the need for high performance optical switches as operators deploy optical links to support demanding AI workloads.
Expanding Manufacturing and Global Operations
Salience Labs plans to use the new funding to accelerate technology deployment, expand high volume manufacturing and develop its next generation of optical switches. It is working with Keysight Technologies and Tower Semiconductor to support testing and manufacturing scale up.
The company also intends to strengthen its presence in Silicon Valley by establishing a second West Coast location and entering additional geographic markets. The expansion will support closer engagement with customers and partners while helping the business grow its engineering team.
Investing in the Future of AI Infrastructure
The $125 million round gives Salience Labs additional resources to move from technology development towards wider deployment. Its challenge will be to manufacture reliable optical switches at scale and demonstrate their advantages across real world AI workloads.
As data centre operators seek faster, more energy efficient ways to connect computing resources, Salience Labs is positioning photonic switching as a potential part of the next generation of AI infrastructure.
