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LightSolver Awarded €12.5 Million From European Innovation Council to Advance All-Optical Supercomputer

LightSolver
LightSolver
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Insider Brief

  • LightSolver, a pioneer in laser-based computing, has been selected for the EIC Accelerator Program, receiving €12.5 million in funding to advance its all-optical supercomputer technology.
  • The Laser Processing Unit (LPU) by LightSolver uses light to efficiently perform complex calculations, benefiting fields like computer-assisted engineering and bio-science.
  • LightSolver’s technology offers a sustainable alternative to traditional computing, faster than GPUs and less resource-intensive than quantum computers.

PRESS RELEASE — LightSolver, inventor of a new laser-based computing paradigm, today announced that it has been selected for the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Program. The company will receive an initial grant of €2.5 million from the EIC Fund combined with a future equity investment of €10 million, totaling €12.5M. This recognition places LightSolver among 68 companies chosen from a highly competitive pool of 969 applicants.

The funding is a direct endorsement of LightSolver’s commitment to building the first all-optical supercomputer that is more energy-efficient than classical computers, drastically reducing the industrial carbon footprint and the Total Cost of Computing (TCoC). The company will leverage the resources granted by the EIC to advance the commercialization of its platform and accelerate its growth in the high-performance computing (HPC) sector.

LightSolver’s novel processor, the Laser Processing Unit™ (LPU), harnesses the natural properties of light to execute complex mathematical operations, enabling industry and research to process compute-intensive workloads in a rapid and energy-efficient way. Applications such as computer-assisted engineering (CAE), bio-science computations, and intractable optimization problems are amongst the workloads that can be greatly accelerated by LightSolver’s platform.

“We’re humbled to join the rows of trailblazing startups in fields such as sustainability, MedTech, and space technology that have received funding from the EIC,” said LightSolver CEO and co-founder Ruti Ben-Shlomi, Ph.D. “The amount of energy consumed by computing globally has been growing exponentially and is becoming unsustainable, hence the need for a new computing paradigm. Our laser-based processor can tackle large and complex computations faster than GPUs. It is also much less environmentally demanding than quantum computers, requiring no vacuum or ultracold temperatures which means that it can live in a data center.”

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The European Innovation Council (EIC) is an initiative by the European Commission to support high-potential startups, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and researchers in developing and scaling breakthrough innovations. Launched to drive Europe’s leadership in new technologies and innovation, the EIC aims to identify, support, and invest in the most promising innovative projects across various sectors, including computing, energy, telecom, pharmaceutical, medical and more.

Matt Swayne

With a several-decades long background in journalism and communications, Matt Swayne has worked as a science communicator for an R1 university for more than 12 years, specializing in translating high tech and deep tech for the general audience. He has served as a writer, editor and analyst at The Quantum Insider since its inception. In addition to his service as a science communicator, Matt also develops courses to improve the media and communications skills of scientists and has taught courses. [email protected]

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