Backed by Nvidia and Intel, the former CSpeed is building chips that swap copper links for optical connections inside AI servers, with its chief executive, an ex-Cisco hardware veteran, promising to begin shipments by 2028.
CScale, a Silicon Valley startup previously known as CSpeed, announced that it has secured $145 million in venture funding, with Nvidia and Intel among its supporters. The company is developing technology that would connect AI processors using optical links rather than copper wiring. So far, it has revealed very little about how its system works. Martin Lund, who left a senior role overseeing chip and hardware systems at Cisco earlier this year, serves as chief executive.
A race to retire copper
The raise places CScale in a crowded industry push to replace the copper cabling that links chips inside AI data center servers. Copper is quick and dependable but works only across short distances. That constraint has led chip designers such as Nvidia and AMD to cluster their processors closely together, which produces intense heat and calls for sophisticated liquid cooling.
Established companies and young ventures alike are investing billions in optical alternatives, which carry data as pulses of laser light instead of electrical signals. The catch is that lasers fail fairly often. For that reason, many competitors keep the laser outside the chip so it can be swapped out easily.
Lasers built in, without interruption
In an interview, Lund declined to give technical specifics. He said CScale will build lasers directly onto its chips, designed so that data keeps flowing even when a laser breaks down. He described the approach as nothing exotic: established components combined in a new way, while retaining the standard fiber technology the industry has relied on and shipped for many years.
CScale, which has now raised $188 million in total, aims to ship its chips by 2028. Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners and Premji Invest led the latest round, joined by existing investors Sutter Hill Ventures and Maverick Silicon.
