# Lightelligence

> Lightelligence builds photonic and optoelectronic hybrid computing hardware that moves and processes AI data with light instead of electrons. Spun out of MIT in 2017 on the back of a landmark Nature Photonics paper, the company designs silicon-photonics chips, optical interconnects, and AI accelerators aimed at the bandwidth and energy bottlenecks of modern data centers. In April 2026 it listed in Hong Kong as the world's first AI silicon-photonics chip stock, jumping roughly 400% on debut.

- **Founded:** 2017
- **Headquarters:** Boston, United States (and Shanghai, China)
- **Founders:** Yichen Shen (Founder, Chairman & CEO), Marin Soljacic (Co-Founder, MIT Physics Professor), Huaiyu Meng (Co-Founder & CTO), Spencer Powers (Co-Founder & President)
- **Team size:** 73-257 employees (Apollo lists 73; 2025 filings cite 257)
- **Products:** PACE / PACE2, Hummingbird, Photowave, Moonstone
- **Notable:** Spun out of MIT on the 2017 Nature Photonics paper 'Deep learning with coherent nanophotonic circuits', Demonstrated PACE, an early fully integrated photonic computing platform, in 2021, Launched Photowave optical PCIe/CXL interconnect in 2023

## Products & services

- **PACE / PACE2** — Photonic Arithmetic Computing Engine - a fully integrated photonic computing platform pairing a 64x64 optical matrix multiplier with a CMOS chip; PACE2 is the 2026 second-generation accelerator.
- **Hummingbird** — An optical network-on-chip 'system in a package' combining a 64-core AI inference accelerator ASIC with a programmable optical interconnect layer.
- **Photowave** — Optical communications hardware designed for PCIe and Compute Express Link (CXL) connectivity, enabling composable, disaggregated data center architectures.
- **Moonstone** — A multi-wavelength comb laser source that supplies the light powering the company's optical interconnect products.

## Achievements

- Spun out of MIT on the 2017 Nature Photonics paper 'Deep learning with coherent nanophotonic circuits'
- Demonstrated PACE, an early fully integrated photonic computing platform, in 2021
- Launched Photowave optical PCIe/CXL interconnect in 2023
- Raised over $210M in Series C in September 2025
- Listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK: 1879) on April 28, 2026 as the world's first AI silicon-photonics chip stock
- Stock surged roughly 400% on IPO debut, reaching ~HK$81.5B market cap

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (1879.HK); shares jumped ~400% on debut, valuing the company around HK$81.5 billion.
- **2025-09** — Raised over $210M in Series C from investors including China Mobile and Shanghai State-owned Investment.
- **2026** — Introduced PACE2, a second-generation optoelectronic accelerator.

## Links

- Website: https://lightelligence.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightelligence-ai
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lightelligence

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/lightelligence
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-08