Santa Barbara-based OpenLight has secured $34 million in Series A funding to expand its silicon photonics technology, which enables data centers and AI infrastructure to move information at up to 400G per lane with lower latency and power use.
The round was co-led by Xora Innovation and Capricorn Investment Group, valuing the company at $49 million. OpenLight’s leadership team includes CEO Dr. Adam Carter, CFO James Dixon, and VP of Engineering Dr. Volkan Kaman. Carter, a 25-year veteran in semiconductor communications, previously held senior roles at Foxconn Optical Interconnects and Oclaro.
A new era of open silicon photonics
OpenLight is pioneering photonic integrated circuits (PICs) that eliminate the need for external lasers by directly integrating active components into silicon. Its open foundry model and Process Design Kit (PDK), validated at Tower Semiconductor, let partners design custom photonic ASICs (PASICs) using a library of proven IP blocks.
“Our solutions address key challenges in AI, quantum computing, autonomous driving, and high-speed communication,” said Carter. “We’re enabling faster, more sustainable, and more reliable data transfer at global scale.”
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Scaling for AI demand
The company plans to use the new capital to expand its component library, increase production support, and develop standard designs targeting multi-terabit-per-second transfer rates. Upcoming innovations include high-powered distributed feedback (DFB) lasers and semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) with record wall-plug efficiency.
Diversity is also a priority: 35% of OpenLight’s workforce are women, including 31% of its engineering team.
With AI driving unprecedented demand for bandwidth and efficiency in data centers, OpenLight is positioning itself as a critical enabler of next-generation infrastructure.
