Singapore-based LightSpeed Photonics, which already operates an R&D facility in Hyderabad, is seeking $15 million to expand its India operations and build a photonics packaging pilot line. The fabless startup, which has raised about $8.5 million to date including a $6.5 million pre-Series A round, develops solderable optical interconnects for AI data centers that it claims are 20 times smaller and use 5 times less power than conventional pluggable transceivers.
Semicon Hunt -> funding -> LightSpeed Photonics
2026-06-11
Singapore-based startup LightSpeed Photonics is seeking $15 million in new funding to expand its research and development capability and build a photonics packaging pilot line in India, adding to an existing R&D facility the company operates in Hyderabad. The fabless company has raised about $8.5 million to date across multiple rounds, including a recent $6.5 million pre-Series A round, according to founder and CEO Rohin Y.
LightSpeed Photonics develops solderable, near-packaged optical interconnects aimed at AI data centers, placing modular optical 'light engines' next to the processor at the printed circuit board level rather than inside the chip package, as co-packaged optics architectures from Broadcom, Nvidia and Intel attempt to do. The company says its 400-Gbps transceiver is 20 times smaller, uses 5 times less power, and delivers up to 4 times lower latency than conventional pluggable transceivers, while consuming about 2W per unit.
The current design uses PAM4 signaling, with a roadmap toward 800-Gbps versions in the same form factor and PAM6-based architectures under development. The interconnect is protocol-agnostic, supporting Ethernet, PCIe and CXL, and the company has demonstrated compute disaggregation by linking a CPU and GPU over 50 meters of optical fiber at the 2026 Optical Fiber Communications Conference in Los Angeles.
LightSpeed currently manufactures through outsourced assembly and test partners in Singapore, with ties to the A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics ecosystem. Rohin said access to advanced photonics packaging and manufacturing capacity has been one of the company's biggest constraints, since most such facilities are still being built worldwide. The proposed India facility would function as an R&D center of excellence rather than a full OSAT line, intended to speed up prototyping, proofs of concept and customer pilots.
The company already operates an R&D facility in Hyderabad and has separately engaged with Indian OSAT provider Kaynes Semicon, which has cited LightSpeed as an early customer for advanced packaging services. A new, better-funded India facility would deepen that footprint and could position LightSpeed as both a customer for, and contributor to, India's emerging photonics and advanced packaging supply chain.
LightSpeed is running pilot engagements with OEMs and system builders, with production scale-up expected to begin next year and initial revenue targeted by the end of the current financial year. The company has set a revenue target of $3 million for 2027-2028 and is also preparing to open a U.S. branch in the Bay Area within the next three months to work more closely with customers and ecosystem partners, alongside its planned India expansion.
The form has been successfully submitted.
We will review your software soon!
See you soon.
Please enter your details and we will