Lightelligence
Category: AI Chips / Semiconductors
A silicon photonics AI chip maker developing optoelectronic computing solutions for data centers and AI inference, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Lightelligence was founded in 2017. The company is led by Yichen Shen. Based in Shanghai, China (HQ); Boston, USA; Hong Kong listed (01879.HK). Team size: 101-500. Total funding raised: 643000000. Latest round: IPO. Key investors include Yijing Capital, Pear VC, Matrix Partners China, Tencent, China Mobile Capital, CRHC Fund, Baidu Ventures, CICC Capital, Vertex Ventures China, China Merchants Venture Capital, FreesFund, Zhen Fund, Alibaba, GIC, Temasek, Baillie Gifford, Lenovo, ZTE.
- Founded
- 2017
- Headquarters
- Shanghai, China (HQ); Boston, USA; Hong Kong listed (01879.HK)
- Team size
- 101-500
- Total funding
- 643000000
Value proposition
Exponential improvements in computing power and dramatic reduction in energy consumption through photonic computing technology.
Products and solutions
PACE 2 optoelectronic accelerated computing card, PACE 3 photonic chip (256x256 matrix), Gazelle optical computing evaluation board, HUMMINGBIRD / OptiHummingbird ONOC, Photowave optical communications hardware, Lightsphere X optical fabric, oMAC optical multiply-accumulate, oNOC optical network on chip, oNET optical networking
Target customer
Data center operators, AI cloud providers, semiconductor leaders, and enterprises requiring high-performance computing for large-scale AI models.
Industries served
Data Centers, AI / Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Autonomous Driving
Technology advantage
First-mover in commercial optoelectronic computing; 88.3% share of China's independent optical interconnect solutions market (2025); cumulative global shipments of optical computing chips ranked first worldwide for two consecutive years.
How they differentiate
Uses light instead of electrons for computation and interconnect, delivering higher speed and energy efficiency than traditional electronic architectures; vertically integrates from chip design to optical fabric.
Main competitors
Lightmatter, Ayar Labs, Intel (Silicon Photonics), NVIDIA (traditional AI accelerators)
Key partnerships
Shanghai INESA (Yidian), Biren Technology, ZTE, Yijing Capital (long-term investor)
Notable customers
ByteDance, Baidu, Biren Technology (ecosystem/GPU partner), ZTE (ecosystem/server partner)
Major milestones
Founded 2017, Developed PACE accelerator card, Achieved 88.3% revenue share in China's independent optical interconnect market (2025), Ranked #1 in global optical computing chip shipments for two consecutive years, Listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange (April 28, 2026) with ~$10.4B first-day market cap, Unveiled PACE 3 and first real-world photonic computing deployment at WAIC 2026 (July 2026), Jointly deploying China's first large-scale commercial 10,000-GPU optical computing supernode (announced July 2026)
Growth metrics
2025 revenue CNY 106M (from 38M in 2023 / 60M in 2024); 2025 net loss CNY 1.34B; ~250–300 employees (257 in 2025 filings; ~300 by Jul 2026); 44 commercial customers by end-2025; SEHK:1879
Market positioning
World's first publicly listed company focused on silicon photonics AI chips, leading revenue in China's optical interconnect market with 88.3% share, and top global shipments of optical computing chips for two consecutive years.
Patents and IP
446 cumulative patents (as of mid-2026 per company site); more than half applicable across optical interconnect and optical computing. Prospectus cited 410 as of March 23, 2026.
About Yichen Shen
PhD in Physics from MIT (2016), research focused on nanophotonics and AI. Published 40+ peer-reviewed papers including first-authored papers in Science, Nature Photonics, and ICML. Forbes 30 Under 30, MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35. Previously at Lux Labs and MIT.
Latest news about Lightelligence
More AI Chips / Semiconductors companies
Official website: https://www.lightelligence.ai/
