Solinide Photonics
Category: AI Chips / Semiconductors
Swedish deep-tech spinout from Chalmers University developing silicon nitride photonic microcomb chips to cut power, cost and footprint of optical interconnects in AI data centers. Solinide Photonics was founded in 2021. The company is led by Dr. Marcello Girardi. Based in Partille/Gothenburg, Sweden. Team size: 1-10. Total funding raised: $4.3M. Latest round: Seed. Key investors include Navigare Ventures, PSV Hafnium, Chalmers Ventures, Turbine Capital, Norrsken Evolve, Almi Greentech Fund, ESA-BIC Sweden, Tech Tour.
- Founded
- 2021
- Headquarters
- Partille/Gothenburg, Sweden
- Team size
- 1-10
- Total funding
- $4.3M
Value proposition
Replaces dozens of discrete lasers with a single integrated silicon nitride micro-comb photonic chip, achieving >60% optical conversion efficiency (vs. 5-10% industry standard), enabling co-packaged optics (CPO) architectures that dramatically cut power, footprint and cost in AI datacenter interconnects.
Products and solutions
Silicon nitride photonic integrated circuits (PICs) / optical microcomb chips, Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) fabrication service for photonics prototyping.
Unique value
Patented silicon nitride 'photonic molecule' design achieving sub-0.03 dB/cm propagation loss, Q-factor ~5 million, and 28 wavelength channels above 0dBm — a 10x efficiency breakthrough over conventional discrete-laser optical interconnects.
Target customer
AI datacenter operators, hyperscalers, and optical component/co-packaged optics (CPO) integrators; also telecom and quantum communications networks.
Industries served
AI Infrastructure / Data Centers, Telecommunications, Quantum Communications
Technology advantage
Proprietary silicon nitride photonic microcomb technology (patented) originating from Chalmers University research; partnership with NVIDIA on co-packaged optics; open Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) foundry service model.
How they differentiate
Focuses specifically on silicon nitride micro-comb light sources (replacing multiple discrete lasers with one chip) rather than full optical I/O chiplets or switch fabrics like competitors Ayar Labs/Lightmatter; targets the laser-source bottleneck within CPO architectures with academic-grade efficiency breakthroughs.
Main competitors
Ayar Labs, Lightmatter, Celestial AI, Scintil Photonics, Dust Photonics
Key partnerships
NVIDIA (co-packaged optics collaboration), PhotonFirst (frequency comb integration), Chalmers University of Technology (academic origin), PhotonicSweden member, ESA-BIC Sweden.
Major milestones
2021: Founded as Chalmers University spinout, Achieved >60% optical conversion efficiency (vs 5-10% industry standard), Opened first Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) run, Established partnership with NVIDIA on co-packaged optics, August 2026: Closed €4M seed round co-led by Navigare Ventures and PSV Hafnium.
Market positioning
Early-stage (seed) deep-tech hardware startup positioned as a specialized photonic light-source supplier into the broader co-packaged optics ecosystem being built by NVIDIA, TSMC, Broadcom and optical component players.
Geographic focus
Global, with roots in the Nordic/European deep-tech ecosystem competing against primarily US-based (Ayar Labs, Lightmatter, Celestial AI) and other European (Scintil Photonics - France) photonics startups.
Patents and IP
Patented silicon nitride (SiN) photonic molecule / integrated frequency comb technology (academic-origin IP from Chalmers University).
About Dr. Marcello Girardi
Co-founder & CEO of Solinide Photonics; PhD in photonics research at Chalmers University of Technology; prior affiliation with Iloomina AB; expert in multilayer silicon nitride photonic circuits.
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Official website: https://solinide.com
