As artificial intelligence pushes the physical limits of today’s data centers, scientists and investors are turning to the speed limit of the universe for the next computing frontier: light.
For Mei Li, founder of CAS Star, a venture capital firm originating from the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences, the sudden global fascination with photonics is not so much a surprise as overdue validation. It’s a thesis he’s spent more than a decade trying to back up with funding.
“New technologies can drive industrial modernization,” Mei said from his office in Shanghai, named “Wallfacer,” after the elite strategists in the book by award-winning science fiction author Liu Cixin. The three-body problem A trilogy whose minds serve as humanity’s last refuge from alien surveillance. “Our role is to advance scientific research toward commercialization.”
Light is important
Mei, who holds a PhD in optics from the Xi’an Institute of Optics and Micromechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been investing in photonics since day one. Today, more than 200 of CAS Star’s approximately 600 companies operate in the broader photonics sector, covering sensing, communications, computing, storage and display.
Optics has been dramatically re-evaluated as AI clusters expand to unprecedented sizes. To train large AI models, tens of thousands of specialized computing chips must constantly exchange data with each other. Traditionally, this data is transmitted through standard copper cables and wires.
However, these copper connections are now hitting a solid physical wall. Pushing large amounts of data through electricity causes signal loss, generates excess heat and significantly increases power consumption – creating a throttling that slows down the chips’ performance. This has made low-loss optical links, which use light instead of electricity, central to the design of modern data centers.
Investors in Chinese stocks are aware. Yuanjie Technology, a Shaanxi-based laser chip maker that CAS Star invested in around 2019, has seen its shares rise more than eleven-fold over the past year, boosted by rising revenues from light source products in data centers.
