German-based Q.Ant has raised €62 million (US$72 million) in a series A funding round to advance its photonic processors.

The round was co-led by Cherry Ventures, UVC Partners, and imec.xpand, marking one of the largest funding efforts for photonic computing in Europe.

Other participants include L-Bank, Verve Ventures, Grazia Equity, and Trumpf.

The funding will support the commercialization of Q.Ant’s photonic processors, which use light instead of electricity to boost energy efficiency and computing performance.

The company claims its technology could improve energy efficiency by up to 30 times and increase data center capacity by 100 times.

It plans to scale production, develop next-generation processors, and expand into the US market.

🔗 Source: Q.Ant

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Photonic computing’s long journey from concept to commercialization

Q.ANT’s breakthrough represents a milestone in a field with decades of research and previous disappointments.

The concept of using light for computing originated in the late 1960s, with significant momentum building after the invention of the laser in 1960 and development of optical fibers in the 1970s1.

Despite early promise, optical computing faced fundamental challenges in the past, including difficulties implementing optical transistors and handling complex data storage needs, which limited commercial viability2.

Multiple waves of investment and research have occurred since the 1980s, when Bell Labs conducted early experiments in optical computing, but technical hurdles prevented widespread adoption despite the theoretical advantages2.

Q.ANT’s achievement in creating commercially viable photonic processors based on Thin-Film Lithium Niobate builds upon this lengthy history while claiming to overcome the precision and integration challenges that hindered previous attempts.

This timeline illustrates how breakthrough technologies often require decades of incremental advances before reaching commercial readiness, which is an important consideration for both investors and industry observers evaluating the photonics sector.

2️⃣ Surging data center energy demands create market opening for alternative computing architectures