Optical interconnect startup Guanglian Xinke (光联芯科) has raised nearly 500 million RMB in its Series A funding round, with Gaorong Ventures co-leading the investment.

Chinese optical interconnect (OIO) startup Xinguang recently announced the completion of a nearly RMB 500 million Series A round, setting new domestic records for valuation and total funding raised in the optical interconnect space.

With a clear technical direction and rapid growth trajectory, Xinguang has continued to attract backing from top-tier investors. The round was co-led by Gaorong Ventures, Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, and Cornerstone Capital, with participation from multiple first-tier industry funds and well-known entrepreneurs, while several existing shareholders made substantial follow-on investments well above their pro-rata rights. This reflects the capital markets' sustained confidence in the optical interconnect sector, as well as strong recognition of Xinguang's technical capabilities, commercialization potential, and future growth prospects.

The proceeds will primarily fund mass production of core products, deeper market expansion, and ongoing R&D — further cementing the company's industry leadership and accelerating the large-scale adoption of "all-optical interconnect."

Pioneering Optical Interconnect Innovation for AI-Scale Computing

Xinguang focuses on optical interconnect innovation for large-scale AI computing, dedicated to building efficient, low-power interconnect architectures that provide critical foundational infrastructure for global AI datacenters.

As a leading innovator in China's optical interconnect space, the company specializes in chip-to-chip optical interconnect for high-performance computing. At its core is an optical compute chip integrated with photonic circuitry, enabling direct electro-optical signal conversion within the chip package — eliminating the PCB trace losses of traditional optical modules and reducing both energy dissipation and latency in signal transmission. Through co-design of novel silicon photonics chips with electrical driver chips and photonic-electronic fused packaging, Xinguang achieves ultra-high-density, ultra-large-bandwidth optical interconnect, delivering high-performance interconnect solutions for next-generation hyperscale computing clusters.

The company was founded by seasoned professionals from academia, industry, and leading institutions, with extensive track records in entrepreneurship and product development. Core team members hail from Stanford, MIT, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, bringing deep expertise in silicon photonics R&D and product mass production.

Built on an innovative technical approach and an industry-leading team, Xinguang pursues independent innovation alongside domestic supply chain collaboration. It has established complete technical moats across core optoelectronic devices, advanced packaging, and process optimization, steadily progressing from R&D validation to scalable commercial deployment.

A Core Builder of Next-Generation AI Infrastructure

Chen Chao, CEO of Xinguang, said: "We're grateful for the trust of our new and existing shareholders. AI development is driving fundamental transformation across computing architectures, and interconnect has become the core bottleneck. Future AI datacenters will inevitably move toward all-optical interconnect. Xinguang aims to be a core builder of this next-generation AI infrastructure transformation, driving China's optical interconnect industry toward self-sufficiency and global competitiveness through sustained technical innovation."

Wang Xin, Partner at Gaorong Ventures, said: "With the goal of continuously improving token performance while reducing per-token costs, AI infrastructure competition has long since evolved from GPU-level rivalry to system-level competition, where interconnect is the core technology determining system capability. Optical I/O represents a critical direction for next-generation interconnect technology, already endorsed by giants like NVIDIA, and holds broad prospects. Xinguang has assembled a well-rounded, high-caliber team with deep accumulated expertise in optical chips, electrical chips, and production processes, aimed at developing next-generation optical I/O product technology while also possessing the industry resources and experience for commercial execution. We believe the company will grow into a significant force in optical I/O, in China and globally."