LightStandard

LightStandard (光本位) is a Chinese photonic computing chip startup developing optical processing units (OPUs) based on phase-change materials, with Yunqi Capital as its angel-plus round investor . The company was founded by two co-founders who met in middle school and reunited years later to pursue optical chips . It has completed three tape-outs, including what it claims is the world's first 128×128 optical computing chip, and in July 2024 announced a chip meeting commercial standards for compute density and precision . By early 2026, LightStandard had advanced to a glass-substrate photonic chip that it says demonstrates thousand-fold compute potential over traditional electronic chips in AI inference scenarios, alongside a strategic partnership with Baidu Cloud . The company has also secured commercial orders .