Celestial AI raises $250 million for AI infrastructure
The company says its “Photonic Fabric” optical interconnect technology platform allows seamless networking for AI compute and sets new standards for bandwidth, latency, energy efficiency, and total cost of ownership
Celestial AI has announced that it has raised $250 million in its Series C1 funding round led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, bringing the total capital raised to date to more than $515 million. In addition to Fidelity Management & Research Company, new investors include funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Maverick Silicon, Tiger Global Management and Lip-Bu Tan, as well as participation from existing investors including AMD Ventures, Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), Temasek, Temasek’s wholly owned subsidiary Xora Innovation, Porsche Automobil Holding SE and The Engine Ventures.
“With the emergence of complex reasoning models and agentic AI, the requirements on AI infrastructure are compounding,” said David Lazovsky, CEO of Celestial AI. “Cluster sizes must scale from a few AI processors in a server to tens of processors in a single rack and thousands of processors across multiple racks, all while relying on high-bandwidth, low-latency network connectivity to handle massive data transfers between processors. Celestial AI’s Photonic Fabric is the only technology platform capable of meeting these critical demands while setting new standards for bandwidth, latency, energy efficiency and total cost of ownership. We are excited to work with top global investors who bring the capital and commitment to support our long-term mission of revolutionising AI infrastructure with our Photonic Fabric.”
To address the rapidly changing AI landscape, Celestial AI says its Photonic Fabric technology platform allows AI compute to be networked seamlessly, from within processor packages to servers across multiple racks. The company offers a full suite of products, that include connectivity, switching and packaging solutions which serve as the foundation for optical scale-up networks for accelerated computing.
“Amid the explosive growth of artificial intelligence, Celestial AI is uniquely positioned to meet the soaring demands of datacentre infrastructure with its disruptive Photonic Fabric technology,” said Tony Kim, head of Fundamental Equities Technology Group at BlackRock.
Andrew Homan, managing partner at Maverick Silicon, said: “By providing terabytes of low latency bandwidth and in-network computing, as well as in-network high-speed, high-capacity memory, Photonic Fabric enables the next generation of AI infrastructure, drawing upon the company’s rich IP in optical interconnect within chip, within package and between package-to-package.”
Celestial AI says its Photonic Fabric technology is fully compatible with industry standard manufacturing and 2.5D packaging processes. With deep engagements with multiple hyperscalers, AI processor, custom silicon and packaging partners, the company plans to use the new funding to expand and qualify its volume manufacturing supply chain to serve customer demand.
“Celestial AI’s Photonic Fabric is fundamentally transforming AI computing, networking and memory solutions by addressing critical infrastructure challenges with unmatched performance and energy efficiency,” said Diane Bryant, independent director at Celestial AI and Broadcom Inc. “I have witnessed the innovative potential of their technology to unlock new capabilities and as a member of the board of directors, am proud to be on the Celestial AI team as they commercialise their ground-breaking Photonic Fabric platform.”
