🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Celestial AI tops $2.5B while tech stays early

• Celestial AI raised $250 million in March 2025 at a valuation above $2.5 billion 1. Fidelity led the round, with BlackRock and Tiger Global, taking total funding above $515 million 1.
• Mass production is planned for 2027 1.
• Hyperscalers are testing Photonic Fabric optical chiplets (small modular chips that use light rather than electrical signals to move data) in early designs, not at scale 2.
• Marvell’s potential multibillion-dollar bid leans on future sales, given 2027 production timing and early adoption.
• A cash and stock mix helps Marvell manage execution risk (the possibility the technology slips or underperforms) and gives early access to optical interconnect (using light to link chips and servers) before rivals dominate.

Optical interconnect deals speed up as rivals react

• Over 100 silicon photonics and optical interconnect startups are building rival tech 3.
• Lightmatter launched the Passage M1000, a 3D Photonic Superchip reference system 4. It links GPUs and Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) for AI training clusters and serves as an example of alternative architectures 4.
• Eight firms hold over 90% of the trillion-dollar AI infrastructure chip market 1. That concentration pushes Nvidia, AMD and Intel to secure optical interconnect tech 1.
• Processor and interconnect teams, plus data center operators, should map ties across 142 photonics firms that raised $5.5 billion to find acquisition targets or technology partners before valuations rise 3.
• Silicon photonics investors may face shorter M&A timelines as chipmakers race to avoid falling behind on optical links.