Ayar Labs Valuation, Funding & Investors

Ayar Labs is valued at $5B as of September 2026.

Last Ayar Labs valuation

$5B

Secondary · Sep 2026

Last Ayar Labs funding round

$150M

Series E · Sep 2026

Cumulative funding Ayar Labs raised

$1B

across 8 funding rounds

Key investors in Ayar Labs

Ayar Labs Overview

About Ayar Labs

Ayar Labs is a San Jose-headquartered semiconductor company pioneering in-package optical input/output technology. Its TeraPHY optical chiplet delivers terabit-per-second bandwidth with low latency for AI accelerators and data centers. The SuperNova light engine supports multiple wavelengths, and products integrate with processors from Intel and AMD to replace copper interconnects.


Founded

2015

HQ

United StatesSan Jose, CA

Status

Privately held

Customer focus

B2B

Revenue model

Product sales

Valuation

$5B (Sep 2026)

Ayar Labs Valuation

Ayar Labs is currently valued at $5B, based on its secondary sale in September 2026.

The $225M round was led by Antero Peak Group, with participation from Greycroft, Sequoia Capital, ARK Investment Management and Wiwynn.

Ayar Labs' valuation has grown 5.0x from $1B at its Series D in December 2024 to $5B in September 2026, across 4 priced rounds.

Ayar Labs valuation by funding round

Ayar Labs valuation by funding round
DateStageValuation
Sep 2026Secondary$5B
Sep 2026Series E$5B
Feb 2026Series E$3.8B
Dec 2024Series D$1B

Ayar Labs Funding History

Ayar Labs has raised a total of $1B across 8 funding rounds, plus 1 secondary share sale.

Ayar Labs' first fundraising round was a $3M seed round in August 2016. The most recent completed round was a $150M Series E in September 2026.

Ayar Labs funding rounds

Ayar Labs funding rounds
DateStageInvestorsRaisedValuationDeal Summary
Sep 2026SecondaryAntero Peak Group (lead); Greycroft; Sequoia Capital; ARK Investment Management; Wiwynn$225M$5BAntero Peak Group at Artisan Partners led a $225 million secondary share purchase in Ayar Labs in September 2026, with ARK Investment Management, Greycroft, Sequoia Global Equities and Wiwynn participating. The transaction valued Ayar Labs at more than $5 billion and consisted of secondary stock purchased from early employees and investors rather than new primary capital into the company. The deal was separate from Ayar Labs’ $150 million Series E extension announced the same month. The secondary sale came as Ayar Labs continued scaling its co-packaged optics business for AI data centers and high-bandwidth computing, with the capital event reflecting continued investor demand for the company’s optical interconnect technology. The transaction followed the company’s earlier March 2026 $500 million Series E financing and built on a growing strategic investor base that includes major semiconductor and infrastructure backers. Ayar Labs develops co-packaged optics and optical interconnect solutions intended to improve data-center compute scalability and bandwidth efficiency. The company had previously raised a $500 million Series E and was positioning for high-volume manufacturing and broader customer deployment, with the September 2026 secondary transaction serving as a valuation mark for existing shareholders rather than operating funding for the business.
Sep 2026Series EAlchip Technologies; NVIDIA; AMD; Intel; Wiwynn; MediaTek$150M$5BAyar Labs extended its Series E financing by $150 million in September 2026, with Wiwynn joining as a strategic investor alongside existing backers Alchip, AMD, Intel, MediaTek, and NVIDIA. The transaction is an extension of Ayar Labs’ earlier $500 million Series E round announced in March 2026, bringing 2026 primary capital raised to $650 million and implying a post-money valuation of more than $5 billion. The new capital was earmarked for product development, validation, manufacturing-ecosystem expansion, and a new chip-design center in Bengaluru, India, as Ayar Labs pushes co-packaged optics into high-volume production for AI scale-up applications. Ayar Labs is a Silicon Valley co-packaged optics company focused on optical I/O for AI systems and rack-scale computing.
Feb 2026Series ENeuberger Berman (lead); Alchip Technologies; NVIDIA; Qatar Investment Authority; 1789 Capital; AMD Ventures; Sahin Boydas; Sequoia Capital; ARK Investment Management; Insight Partners; MediaTek$500M$3.8B-
Dec 2024Series DAdvent International (lead); Alumni Ventures (lead); Light Street Capital (lead)$155M$1BAyar Labs, based in San Jose, CA, develops silicon photonics-based optical I/O chiplets and connectivity solutions to address data movement bottlenecks in AI infrastructure and high-performance computing, offering higher bandwidth, lower power, and scalability compared to traditional copper interconnects. The company targets data centers and AI workloads, with partnerships including AMD, NVIDIA, GlobalFoundries, Intel Foundry, and TSMC. On December 11-12, 2024, Ayar Labs closed a $155 million Series D funding round led by Advent Global Opportunities (part of Advent International), Light Street Capital, with participation from Alumni Ventures (noted in some sources), AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, NVIDIA, 3M Ventures, Autopilot, and existing investors like Applied Ventures, GlobalFoundries, and Playground Global, bringing total funding to approximately $370-372 million. This round elevated the company's valuation above $1 billion, achieving unicorn status, with funds allocated to high-volume manufacturing, supply chain scaling, and commercialization of optical chiplets aligned to customer roadmaps. Subsequent developments include a $500 million Series E round in an unspecified later date, led by Neuberger Berman, raising total funding to $870 million at a $3.75 billion valuation, further supported by investors like ARK Invest, Insight Partners, and Qatar Investment Authority, to accelerate volume production of co-packaged optics.
May 2023Series CCapital TEN (lead); NVIDIA; Applied Ventures; Tyche Partners; IAG Capital Partners; Boardman Bay Capital Management; Hewlett Packard Pathfinder; GlobalFoundries; VentureTech Alliance; Intel Capital; Lockheed Martin Ventures$25M--
Apr 2022Series CBoardman Bay Capital Management (lead); NVIDIA; Tyche Partners; Atreides Capital; Page One Ventures; Infinitum Partners; IAG Capital Partners; Berkeley Frontier Fund; AXIAL Partners; Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Nautilus Venture Partners; Agave Partners Capital$130M-Ayar Labs, a leader in chip-to-chip optical connectivity and silicon photonics, raised $130 million in its Series C funding round on April 26, 2022, led by Boardman Bay Capital Management. Strategic investors Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and NVIDIA joined, alongside existing backers including Applied Ventures LLC, GlobalFoundries, Intel Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures. The investors listed—Agave Partners Capital, Atreides Capital, AXIAL Partners, Berkeley Frontier Fund, Boardman Bay Capital Management, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IAG Capital Partners, Infinitum Partners, Nautilus Venture Partners, NVIDIA, Page One Ventures, Tyche Partners—align with participants and prior supporters noted in funding histories. The proceeds were designated to accelerate commercialization of Ayar Labs' breakthrough in-package optical I/O products, including the TeraPHY optical chiplet and SuperNova light source, targeting AI, high-performance computing (HPC), cloud, and telecom applications. Boardman Bay Capital Management highlighted Ayar Labs as their largest private investment, emphasizing its leadership in silicon photonics-based optical interconnects for data centers and telecom markets, supported by proven technology, team, ecosystem partners, and strategy. A Series C extension of $25 million followed in May 2023 from VentureTech Alliance and others to enhance AI-focused interconnect R&D. Ayar Labs continues developing co-packaged optics (CPO) to replace copper interconnects, addressing bandwidth, power, and latency limits in AI infrastructure.
Nov 2020Series BBluesky Capital (lead); Downing Ventures (lead); Asuun; Applied Ventures; Castor Ventures; SGInnovate; GlobalFoundries; Alumni Ventures; Playground Global; Founders Fund; Intel Capital; Lockheed Martin Ventures$35M-Ayar Labs develops photonics-based optical interconnect technology, miniaturizing fiber optic transceivers into silicon chips to enable high-bandwidth, low-energy data transfer for data centers, high-performance computing, and AI infrastructure. The company raised $35 million in its Series B round in November 2020, co-led by Bluesky Capital and Downing Ventures, with participation from Alumni Ventures, Applied Ventures, Asuun, Castor Ventures, Founders Fund, GlobalFoundries, Intel Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Playground Global, and SGInnovate. This round built on prior funding and supported development of light-based chip interconnects. Subsequent rounds included a $130 million Series C in April 2022 with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and NVIDIA, a $155 million Series D in December 2024 led by Advent Global Opportunities and Light Street Capital (total funding ~$372 million, valuation over $1 billion), and a $500 million Series E in March 2026 led by Neuberger Berman (total funding $870 million, valuation $3.75 billion) with investors like AMD, NVIDIA, MediaTek, ARK Invest, and Qatar Investment Authority. These later rounds highlight growing demand for Ayar Labs' co-packaged optics (CPO) solutions addressing AI data movement bottlenecks and power constraints in copper-based systems. Ayar Labs projects aggressive growth, forecasting over 100 million annual unit shipments by 2028, and pursues revenue through product sales, technology licensing to fabless vendors, and strategic partnerships like those with HPE and Lockheed Martin for silicon photonics integration. The company focuses on TeraPHY optical engines to enable scalable GPU arrays and beyond-rack AI systems, positioning it against peers like Groq, SambaNova, Cerebras, and Lightmatter in the AI hardware space.
Nov 2018Series APlayground Global (lead); GlobalFoundries; TechU Ventures; Founders Fund; Intel Capital$24M-Ayar Labs develops silicon photonics-based optical interconnect technology, miniaturizing fiber optic transceivers into chips to enable high-bandwidth, low-power data movement for AI, high-performance computing, and data centers. Founded in 2015, the company addresses bottlenecks in traditional copper-based systems by integrating optics directly with compute chips via products like TeraPHY optical I/O engines. The specified 2018 funding round, led by Playground Global with participation from Founders Fund, GlobalFoundries, Intel Capital, and TechU Ventures, matches reports of an early-stage raise around $24-35 million. Subsequent traction includes strategic partnerships with hyperscalers, HPE, Lockheed Martin, AMD, NVIDIA, Intel Capital, and GlobalFoundries for ecosystem integration. Ayar Labs has scaled through later rounds: Series C ($130M in 2022 with HPE and NVIDIA), Series D ($155M in Dec 2024 led by Advent Global Opportunities and Light Street Capital, reaching $372M total funding and $1B+ valuation), and Series E ($500M in Mar 2026 led by Neuberger Berman, totaling $870M at $3.75B valuation). These funds support production ramp-up, CPO deployment, and Taiwan facilities for AI scale-up. The optical I/O market, valued at ~$95M in 2023, is projected to exceed $800M-$9B by 2030, driven by AI infrastructure demands exceeding $1T in spending. Ayar Labs forecasts 100M+ unit shipments by 2028, positioning against peers like Groq, SambaNova, and Lightmatter in AI hardware.
Aug 2016SeedFounders Fund (lead); Silicon Catalyst; The House Fund; TechU Ventures$3M-Ayar Labs raised $2.5 million in its seed round in January or August 2016 led by Founders Fund, with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures and GlobalFoundries. The funding supported initial R&D for silicon photonics prototypes and optical I/O technology development, along with foundational talent recruitment. Ayar Labs develops in-package optical interconnects to address bandwidth, power, and latency challenges in AI infrastructure and high-performance computing. The company has since progressed through multiple funding rounds, including Series C in April 2022 ($130 million led by Boardman Bay Capital Management with HPE and NVIDIA), Series D in December 2024 ($155 million led by Advent Global Opportunities and Light Street Capital, achieving over $1 billion valuation), and Series E in March 2026 ($500 million led by Neuberger Berman at $3.75 billion post-money valuation). Total funding reached $870 million by early 2026, with investors including AMD, Intel Capital, NVIDIA, and others. The capital has enabled scaling production, commercialization, and shipments of optical I/O solutions.

Who has invested in Ayar Labs?

47 investors have backed Ayar Labs across its funding rounds, including NVIDIA, Founders Fund, Intel Capital, GlobalFoundries, Sequoia Capital and Alumni Ventures.

Lead investors include Antero Peak Group, Neuberger Berman, Advent International, Alumni Ventures, Light Street Capital and 6 other investors.


Ayar Labs Investors

Investors in Ayar Labs by funding rounds participated
InvestorHQRoundsRoleFirst check
NVIDIAUnited StatesSan Jose, CA4ParticipantApr 2022
GlobalFoundriesUnited StatesNew York City, NY3ParticipantNov 2018
Founders FundUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA3LeadAug 2016
Intel CapitalUnited StatesSanta Clara, CA3ParticipantNov 2018
Alchip TechnologiesUnited StatesUnited States2ParticipantFeb 2026
Applied VenturesUnited StatesSan Jose, CA2ParticipantNov 2020
Tyche PartnersUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA2ParticipantApr 2022
IAG Capital PartnersUnited StatesCharleston, SC2ParticipantApr 2022
Boardman Bay Capital ManagementUnited StatesNew York City, NY2LeadApr 2022
Alumni VenturesUnited StatesUnited States2LeadNov 2020
Playground GlobalUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA2LeadNov 2018
Sequoia CapitalUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA2ParticipantFeb 2026
ARK Investment ManagementUnited StatesNew York City, NY2ParticipantFeb 2026

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Ayar Labs Competitors

Ayar Labs competitors include listed companies like Guangzhou Shiyuan, Aixtron, ViTrox and Kulicke & Soffa, and private ones like Frore Systems and Source Foundry.

Public and private companies comparable to Ayar Labs
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
Guangzhou ShiyuanChinaChinaPublicly listed$3.6B$215M$4.9B1.2x
AixtronGermanyGermanyPublicly listed$641M$135M$4.4B5.9x
ViTroxMalaysiaMalaysiaPublicly listed$206M$45M$4.4B14.1x
Kulicke & SoffaUnited StatesUnited StatesPublicly listed$654M$15M$4.3B3.4x
Frore SystemsUnited StatesSan Jose, CAPrivate--$1.6B-
Source FoundryUnited StatesSan Francisco, CAPrivate--$5B-

Ayar Labs Public Comps

Ayar Labs is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Compal Electronics, Silergy, Canon Marketing Japan, HYC Technology Co., Softcat, Caihong Display Devices, Ferrotec Group, Chipbond Tech, Guangzhou Shiyuan and Vishay.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
Compal Electronics$24B$542M0.3x0.2x12.1x10.8x
Silergy$590M$98M8.0x6.5x48.2x38.0x
Canon Marketing Japan$4.4B$488M0.9x0.9x8.4x8.1x
HYC Technology Co.$334M$40M14.7x-121.9x-
Softcat$2B$246M2.5x2.0x19.6x16.4x
Caihong Display Devices$1.7B$589M3.5x-9.9x-
Ferrotec Group$427M$111M11.1x-43.0x-
Chipbond Tech$673M$195M7.0x6.2x24.3x21.2x

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Common questions about Ayar Labs

When was Ayar Labs founded?Ayar Labs was founded in 2015.
Where is Ayar Labs headquartered?Ayar Labs is headquartered in San Jose, CA, United States.
Is Ayar Labs publicly listed?No, Ayar Labs is a private, VC-backed company.
What is Ayar Labs' valuation?Ayar Labs was last valued at $5B in its secondary sale in September 2026.
How much funding has Ayar Labs raised?Ayar Labs has raised $1B across 8 funding rounds.
What was Ayar Labs' last funding round?Ayar Labs' last funding round was a $150M Series E in September 2026.
Who are Ayar Labs' investors?Ayar Labs' investors include NVIDIA, GlobalFoundries, Founders Fund, Intel Capital, Alchip Technologies, Applied Ventures, Tyche Partners, IAG Capital Partners, Boardman Bay Capital Management, Alumni Ventures and 37 others.
Which companies are comparable to Ayar Labs?Companies comparable to Ayar Labs include Guangzhou Shiyuan, Aixtron, ViTrox, Kulicke & Soffa, Frore Systems and Source Foundry.

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