Ayar Labs said on March 3, 2026 that it closed a $500 million Series E funding round led by Neuberger Berman, valuing the silicon photonics company at $3.75 billion, with Nvidia listed among backers.

Ayar Labs, founded in 2015, develops optical interconnect technology designed to move data using light rather than electrical signaling, aiming to reduce power and heat constraints tied to copper connections inside advanced computing systems.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Ayar Labs is among a small group of companies seeking to replace copper interconnections with fiber based approaches inside the broader field of silicon photonics, a transition tied to scaling AI infrastructure.

During the same week, Nvidia announced plans to invest $2 billion in Lumentum and $2 billion in Coherent to accelerate advanced optics technologies used in AI data center infrastructure, including expanded research, development, and U.S. manufacturing capacity.

Industry coverage framed Nvidia’s combined $4 billion commitment as a strategic move to secure optical component capacity and speed development of photonics hardware that supports higher bandwidth data movement for large scale AI systems.

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