光计算芯片，我国重大突破

Core Viewpoint - The article discusses the significant advancements in optical computing technology, specifically the LightGen chip developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which addresses the growing demand for computational power and energy efficiency in large-scale generative AI models [5][12]. Group 1: Breakthroughs in Optical Computing - The LightGen chip represents a major breakthrough in the field of optical computing, enabling the support of large-scale semantic visual generation models [5]. - It integrates over a million optical neurons on a single chip and employs all-optical dimension conversion, which are recognized as key bottlenecks in the industry [9]. - The chip achieves a closed-loop process of "input-understanding-semantic manipulation-generation," allowing it to "understand" and "cognize" semantics [9]. Group 2: Performance Evaluation - LightGen chip demonstrates a significant performance leap, achieving two orders of magnitude improvement in computational power and energy efficiency compared to leading digital chips, even with less advanced input devices [11]. - Theoretical calculations suggest that with cutting-edge input devices, the chip could achieve a seven-fold increase in computational power and an eight-fold increase in energy efficiency [11]. Group 3: Implications for AI Development - The advancements in LightGen are crucial for the practical application of next-generation computing chips in modern AI, particularly for high-latency and energy-intensive tasks like large-scale generative models [12]. - This development opens new pathways for exploring faster and more energy-efficient generative intelligent computing [12].