Staera Raises $4.6 Million to Develop Optical Links for AI Chips

Staera Semiconductor raised $4.6 million in pre-seed financing as it emerged from stealth Nov. 10, backing development of Lightwire, an optical link for AI hardware. The company is targeting commercial release in 2030.

Openspace Capital led the round. SGInnovate, Black Kite Capital, 28 Holdings, In Group and Decimus Technologies also participated.

Staera describes Lightwire as an optical link intended for bridge or interposer chips, which connect processors with memory. The company says its design uses silicon CMOS circuitry alongside gallium nitride light emitters and silicon nitride waveguides to carry data as light.

Staera’s specifications list a rate of four to eight gigabits per second per link and more than 600 links per millimeter of chip edge. The company says a Lightwire-based high-bandwidth memory (HBM) design aims to exceed 24 terabytes per second, compared with 2.8 terabytes per second per HBM4 stack.

Staera plans to put the funding toward Lightwire development, expanding its U.S. team and working with customers and supply-chain partners.