Ayar Labs Secures $500M Series E Funding Led by Neuberger Berman and Insight Partners to Scale AI Co-Packaged Optics

Silicon Valley startup Ayar Labs has closed a landmark $500 million Series E funding round to advance its optical interconnect technology for AI infrastructure.

Led by Neuberger Berman with participation from Insight Partners, NVIDIA, AMD, and others, the investment values the company at $3.75 billion.

Transforming AI Data Centers with Co-Packaged Optics

Ayar Labs' breakthrough co-packaged optics (CPO) solutions replace power-hungry copper interconnects with efficient optical links.

At the core is the TeraPHY optical engine, delivering 8 Tbps bandwidth via UCIe chiplets for seamless integration into AI accelerators and switches.

Founded in 2015 by CEO Mark Wade and CTO Vladimir Stojanovic, the company emerged from DARPA's PIPES program and has raised $870 million total.

Strategic partnerships with GlobalFoundries, TSMC, Alchip, and MediaTek have propelled prototypes to production-ready status.

Funding Fuels Global Expansion and Volume Production

The capital will scale high-volume manufacturing, boost test capacity, and establish a new office in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

CEO Mark Wade noted that CPO overcomes the interconnect power wall, enabling thousands of GPUs to operate as one unified system.

Neuberger Berman's Gabe Cahill praised Ayar Labs' execution and ecosystem momentum in addressing AI's critical bandwidth bottlenecks.

As hyperscalers demand massive scaling, Ayar Labs positions optics as essential for profitable AI growth through 2028.

This round signals a paradigm shift, with industry giants betting on photonics to unlock next-generation AI performance and efficiency.