🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Before the IPO, a fast-growing company spent big to enter a new market

• Lightelligence reached a 7.8 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) valuation in its last pre-IPO round in April 2025, backed by Tencent and Baidu 1.
• Revenue climbed at a 66.9% compound annual rate to 106 million yuan (US$15.5 million) in 2025, while costs rose alongside it 1.
• Net losses grew to 1.3 billion yuan (US$197 million) in 2025, with research and development spending at 479 million yuan (US$70.3 million) 2.
• The investment supported share gains, including Frost & Sullivan rankings that put it first among China’s independent scale-up optical interconnect solution providers by 2025 revenue and first worldwide in cumulative optical computing chip shipments 1.

The IPO points to a new front in the global AI race

• In AI data centers, attention is moving beyond chip speed toward the links between chips, since copper interconnects cap scale-up graphics processing unit (GPU) clusters at 72 to 144 units 3.
• A public listing could set a market yardstick in a field where US rivals Ayar Labs and Lightmatter, both photonics chip companies, remain private 4.
• In China, Lightelligence’s open protocols offer another option beside Huawei’s proprietary technology, which pairs with Huawei’s Ascend AI chips 4.
• A strong start could add another signal for Chinese deep-tech fundraising after Knowledge Atlas, known internationally as Z.ai, rose 560% following its January debut 4.