算力瓶颈突围 一线资本押注“光互连”赛道

Core Viewpoint - The market is actively seeking solutions to alleviate the AI computing power bottleneck, with optical interconnect technology being viewed as a key path to overcome current limitations in computing power [1]. Group 1: Investment and Market Dynamics - Optical interconnect startup Lightlink Semiconductor has secured significant early-stage financing, becoming the largest in the domestic optical interconnect chip sector [1]. - Companies like Ayar Labs and Lightmatter in the U.S. have also completed new funding rounds, attracting investments from major players such as NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel [1]. - The optical module market has seen a surge, with leading companies like NewEase and Zhongji Xuchuang emerging as key players in the optical module sector [2]. Group 2: Technical Advancements and Challenges - Traditional copper interconnects face significant limitations, with over 90% of energy consumption in large model computing clusters being used for data movement rather than computation [3]. - The effective distance of copper interconnects has drastically reduced to mere centimeters, creating a hidden constraint on computing power expansion [3]. - Optical modules are evolving towards 800G and even 1.6T to meet the increasing demands for speed and energy efficiency [3]. Group 3: Competitive Landscape - Ayar Labs has introduced the first universal chip interconnect optical chip, TeraPHY, enabling efficient communication over kilometers for GPU clusters [5]. - Intel and NVIDIA are also developing their optical interconnect capabilities, with Intel showcasing a fully integrated optical computing interconnect chip capable of supporting high data transfer rates [5]. - NVIDIA plans to commercialize its next-generation optical interconnect solutions by 2026, indicating a move towards practical application [6]. Group 4: Domestic vs. International Developments - Huawei's "Lingqu Interconnect" protocol is facilitating the implementation of optical interconnect technology, with new supernode products being launched [6]. - Lightlink Semiconductor aims to create an open interconnect platform, contrasting with the closed ecosystems of companies like NVIDIA and Huawei [7]. - Despite a 2-3 year technological gap, domestic optical interconnects are expected to catch up quickly due to faster iteration speeds and cost advantages [7].