Photon Bridge Raises €10M to Scale Laser Sources for AI Data Centers

The race to build larger AI systems is creating demand for a component far removed from the models themselves: the lasers that carry data between processors. Eindhoven-based Photon Bridge has raised €10 million to develop multi-wavelength laser sources that it says can be manufactured at the volumes next-generation AI data centers will require.

The round, announced on October 21, was co-led by the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund and 360 Capital. Existing investors Innovation Industries, Faber, and the Brabant Development Agency (BOM) also increased their investment.

Photon Bridge will use the financing for product development, customer qualification, and expansion of its Eindhoven team. It plans to deliver its first samples in 2027 and prepare for volume manufacturing from 2028.

Why AI Infrastructure Needs More Laser Sources

More processors do not automatically produce a proportionate increase in useful computing. The chips also need to exchange data quickly enough to work together. As AI clusters grow, the energy and bandwidth required for those connections become an increasingly important part of the system design.

Optical links address that problem by carrying information using light. Co-packaged optics moves the optical connection close to the electronic chip, shortening the electrical path. External laser sources supply the light that the optical engines use to transmit data.

This creates a manufacturing challenge alongside the computing challenge. Photon Bridge argues that the laser supply chain, developed around lower-volume telecommunications applications, must adapt to the demands of much larger AI deployments. Its funding is aimed at that transition from specialist component production to semiconductor-scale manufacturing.

The investment sits within a broader push to bring optical connectivity into AI infrastructure, reflected in developments such as Ayar Labs’ expansion of its co-packaged optics manufacturing. Photon Bridge is targeting the light-source portion of that supply chain.

Scaling the Architecture Instead of Each Individual Laser

Photon Bridge’s approach combines and multiplexes light from multiple lower-power semiconductor lasers. Multiplexing places different wavelengths—effectively different optical channels—onto a shared path, allowing the system to increase its aggregate output without making each laser operate at an increasingly demanding power level.

The company says lower power densities make individual lasers less sensitive to manufacturing defects, supporting better production yields. Yield matters because a technically capable device is not enough: manufacturers need a sufficiently large proportion of production to meet specification at an acceptable cost.

According to the funding announcement, the platform is designed to deliver high wavelength counts with up to 40 milliwatts of optical power per wavelength per fiber, while supporting production across multiple indium phosphide, or InP, foundries. This is a platform design target, rather than evidence that volume manufacturing has already begun.

“Instead of making individual lasers increasingly powerful and difficult to manufacture, we move that scaling challenge into the architecture,” said Paul Marchal, Photon Bridge’s CEO, in the announcement.

The Technology Behind the Light Engine

Photon Bridge’s technical product description adds an important detail: its wavelength multiplexer sits on a silicon interposer alongside the laser array. The approach uses distributed-feedback, or DFB, semiconductor lasers and is intended to support configurations with 8, 16, and 32 wavelengths.

Dense wavelength-division multiplexing, usually shortened to DWDM, lets several wavelengths share a fiber. Integrating the multiplexer with the laser array changes how the source is assembled and scaled, rather than relying only on improvements to the individual laser die.

To connect the different materials, the company uses a patented cantilever waveguide interface. It joins active III–V semiconductor devices, including lasers, to silicon photonics. Photon Bridge says the compliant structures accommodate placement variation during bonding and support passive optical alignment, reducing the need for separate alignment operations.

The platform also uses thick-film silicon waveguides. The company’s stated aim is to handle higher optical power with greater tolerance to manufacturing variation. These design choices connect the optical specifications to the larger commercial question: whether the device can be assembled and tested repeatably.

A Manufacturing Strategy Built Around Existing Suppliers

Photon Bridge describes itself as a fabless company. It develops the technology and product architecture while working with manufacturing partners, rather than building its own semiconductor fabrication plant.

Its manufacturing approach is designed around commercial foundries and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers, known as OSATs. The company describes integrating previously tested laser dies with silicon waveguides through flip-chip assembly, bringing optical and electrical attachment into a common production flow.

The ability to source suitable lasers from multiple InP foundries is part of the proposition. For customers planning large deployments, supplier flexibility and qualification can matter alongside optical power and channel count. A source that works in a prototype still has to meet reliability, packaging, and supply requirements before it becomes a dependable data-center component.

“Once you start talking about millions of units a year, manufacturing yield becomes fundamental,” said Cesare Maifredi, partner at 360 Capital, in the release.

What the New Funding Needs to Deliver

Founded in 2020 by Rui Santos and Xaveer Leijtens, Photon Bridge is moving toward commercialization under Marchal, who joined as CEO in September 2025. Its press-kit fact sheet puts the team at 15 people in October, with plans to reach 20 by the end of 2026.

The next milestones are customer qualification and samples in 2027, followed by preparations for volume manufacturing from 2028. Those steps will test whether the architecture’s intended yield and supply-chain advantages translate into a product customers can deploy at scale.

The funding gives Photon Bridge resources to pursue a specific part of AI’s infrastructure expansion. As optical connections move closer to compute, the opportunity is to make the light source itself easier to manufacture, qualify, and supply—not simply more powerful.