Chinese researchers bet on photonic chips

The new Shanghai Integrated Photonic Computer Chips and Systems Laboratory has unveiled the first platform in China that combines industry expertise and academia. The facility is based at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where experts and external partners will develop photonic chips, optical components, computer architectures and associated software.

The move comes as technology companies and governments race to secure the computing power needed to train and run advanced artificial intelligence models. As data centers consume more and more electricity, scientists are looking for alternatives to traditional silicon circuits. Traditional chips use electrons to transmit data, while photonic systems rely on photons, or particles of light.

Zou Weiwen, director of the laboratory and professor at the university, emphasized that photonic technology opens an important path to breakthroughs in computing performance, offering great advantages in bandwidth, latency and energy efficiency. Research work will therefore focus on chip architecture, silicon photonics integration, optical device development, supporting algorithms and the search for practical commercial applications.

Photonic computing is of great strategic importance to China, as Shanghai authorities have supported the project through several scientific programs and investments in industrial development, as conventional processors around the world are already dangerously approaching their physical and thermal limitations.

The project is a joint initiative between Jiao Tong University and Shanghai-based photonics startup Lightelligence, which has previously made headlines by claiming to be the first to successfully deploy large-scale hybrid optical-electronic computing systems, making it a major player in the sector.

Despite the excitement, there are still significant technical hurdles to overcome before mass adoption. Weiwen warns that one of the biggest challenges is the lack of a mature ecosystem of software and algorithms that can take full advantage of photonic hardware. Before these chips reach their theoretical maximum, a number of fundamental scientific and engineering questions will need to be resolved.