# Zaijun Chen

> Zaijun Chen is a physicist-turned-founder building light-powered computers for artificial intelligence. As co-founder and CEO of Opticore, he is developing photonic optical processing units (OPUs) that the company says are up to 100x more energy efficient and 25x denser than leading GPUs. Trained at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and MIT, and now director of the Laboratory of Intelligent and Quantum Photonics at USC, Chen turned a decade of precision-optics research into a venture-backed bet that the future of AI compute runs on photons instead of electrons.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Opticore
- **Organizations:** Opticore, University of Southern California (Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (former), Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (former)
- **Education:** Ph.D. in Physics (highest distinction), frequency-comb-based precision metrology and optical sensing, in Prof. Theodor W. Hansch's group, Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics & Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Postdoctoral Fellow, Quantum Photonics Group (Prof. Dirk Englund) - photonic AI accelerators and neuromorphic devices, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Co-founded Opticore and raised a total of $14.5M to build photonic AI computing chips, Demonstrated core photonic computing principles published in Nature Photonics (2023), First-author of 'Delocalized photonic deep learning on the internet's edge' in Science (2022)

## Career timeline

- **2019** — Completed Ph.D. in physics with highest distinction at MPQ / LMU Munich
- **2021** — Joined MIT as postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Dirk Englund's Quantum Photonics Group
- **2022** — Published 'Delocalized photonic deep learning on the internet's edge' in Science
- **2023** — Won SPIE OPTO AI/ML Best Paper Award and Optica Foundation Challenge Award; demonstrated core photonic computing principles in Nature Photonics; founded Opticore
- **2023** — Became director of the Laboratory of Intelligent and Quantum Photonics at USC
- **2024** — Opticore closed initial $7M seed round (co-led by Jetha Global and Origin Ventures)
- **2025** — Opticore raised $7.5M seed extension (total $14.5M); completed photonic chip tapeout demonstrations; published scalable photonic logic work in Science Advances
- **2026** — Targeting first scaled photonic system demonstration

## Achievements

- Co-founded Opticore and raised a total of $14.5M to build photonic AI computing chips
- Demonstrated core photonic computing principles published in Nature Photonics (2023)
- First-author of 'Delocalized photonic deep learning on the internet's edge' in Science (2022)
- 2023 SPIE OPTO AI/ML Best Paper Award for 'Deep Learning with Coherent VCSEL Neural Networks'
- 2023 Optica Foundation Challenge Award
- OECC/PSC 2022 Best Paper Award
- 2022 Sony Faculty Award
- 2018 Rao Prize for best student talk at the International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy
- Ph.D. awarded with highest distinction at MPQ / LMU Munich
- Directs the Laboratory of Intelligent and Quantum Photonics at USC

## Latest updates

- **2025-09** — Opticore raised an additional $7.5M seed extension, bringing total funding to $14.5M, co-led by Origin Ventures and Jetha Global.
- **2025** — Completed photonic chip tapeout demonstrations and published scalable photonic logic work in Science Advances.

## Links

- Website: https://opticore.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zaijun/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zaijun.chen/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/zaijun-chen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-20