Staera Semiconductor, a start-up focused on enhancing optical connectivity for artificial intelligence systems, has secured $4.6 million in pre-seed investment. This funding round was led by Openspace Capital, with participation from SGInnovate, Black Kite Capital, 28 Holdings, In Group, and Decimus Technologies. Staera, formerly known as New Silicon Corporation, has introduced its innovative Lightwire technology, which integrates optical data connections directly into silicon chips.
The company aims to tackle a significant challenge in AI computing infrastructure: the inefficiency of conventional electrical connections. With AI systems requiring increasingly large volumes of data transfer, traditional copper wiring struggles to keep pace due to electrical performance degradation over distances. Lightwire technology seeks to replace these copper connections with optical links, using light generated within the chip itself, thus offering a more efficient solution.
Staera’s approach involves manufacturing the light source and other optical components within commercial silicon wafers, allowing the technology to be integrated into existing semiconductor fabrication facilities. This method offers a reported manufacturing yield of 98 to 99 percent. The company has been working on integrating GaN LEDs into silicon chips since 2016, reflecting its commitment to advancing this technology.
A key advantage of Lightwire is its energy efficiency. Staera estimates that its technology will consume less than one-tenth of the energy required by the best current optical links. At a data transfer rate of 24 terabytes per second, Lightwire is projected to consume under 50 watts, compared to nearly one kilowatt for conventional co-packaged optics. This development comes at a crucial time, as data center electricity demand is anticipated to rise significantly, with the International Energy Agency projecting an increase from 415 terawatt-hours in 2024 to 945 terawatt-hours by 2030.
According to Staera’s CEO, Dr. Andrew Kim, the funds will facilitate the transition of Lightwire from research and development to customer engagement and commercial deployment. The company plans to expand its team in the US and establish relationships with customers and supply chain partners, aiming for a commercial release by 2030. Staera’s technology has already gained recognition, winning the 3rd ECTC Start-up Competition at the IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference in May 2026 and securing a runner-up position at the 2026 Lam Capital Venture Competition.
Openspace Capital Co-Founder Hian Goh expressed optimism about Staera’s integrated optical approach, viewing it as a promising step towards scalable and energy-efficient AI systems. As the demand for more efficient data-transfer methods grows, Staera’s Lightwire technology positions itself as a vital innovation in the AI infrastructure landscape.
About Staera Semiconductor
Staera Semiconductor designs the technology that lets modern hardware scale, by carrying data on light instead of electricity. Its LED-based optical interconnect is fabricated inside a single chip, giving AI compute systems the density to move data from millimeters to meters without trading off size, energy or performance. Staera began as a spin-off from the Low Energy Electronic Systems (LEES) interdisciplinary research group at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s first research centre outside the United States and its largest international research endeavour.
For more information, visit https://www.staera.ai.
Amisha Shettigar
Blue Totem Communications
[email protected]
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