Backed by new funding, Scintil will shine more light on AI infrastructure!
Scintil Photonics has raised $58 million in Series B funding, led by Yotta Capital with participation by NVIDIA, NGP Capital, Bosch Ventures, and others.
The Grenoble-based startup will use the funding to expand globally and scale production of its LEAF Light™ single-chip DWDM light engine, a technology designed to meet the unprecedented demands of AI data centers.
AI data centers are facing a tough bottleneck: the interconnects. To train massive models, thousands of GPUs must function as one, constantly exchanging data at terabit-per-second speeds. Expanding back-end networks can be done in two ways.
Scale-up networks link GPUs within a server or small cluster, using fabrics such as NVIDIA NVLink or AMD Infinity Fabric.
Scale-out networks connect clusters across racks and rows, typically through InfiniBand switches.
However, both face the same challenge: as AI workloads scale, copper interconnects and conventional pluggable optics cannot keep pace with bandwidth, latency, and energy demands. The consensus in the industry is clear: future growth requires high-density optical interconnects spanning everything from chip-to-chip to rack-to-rack links.
Here comes the sun… or Silicon Photonics, from pluggables to Co-Packaged Optics
Silicon photonics is emerging as the leading platform to enable these next-generation interconnects. Initially used in pluggable transceivers, it is now moving toward co-packaged optics (CPO), where optical engines sit next to the switch or compute ASIC itself.
And the market growth is dramatic.
According to the Co-Packaged Optics for Data Centers report from Yole Group, the CPO market was worth only $46 million in 2024 but is forecast to reach $8.1 billion in 2030 and $22.4 billion in 2035, representing a 76% CAGR.
Martin Vallo
PhD, Senior Technology & Market Analyst, Photonics
Growth will come from replacing pluggables in scale-out networks, and from moving scale-up networks away from copper, where optics overcome bandwidth and distance limits.
Beyond integrated optics, why DWDM and external laser sources also matter
Two complementary technologies, DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) and External Laser Sources (ELS), are poised to become foundational in this transition. By transmitting dozens of precisely spaced wavelengths through a single fiber, DWDM multiplies bandwidth and avoids the “fiber explosion” problem. Without it, connecting tens of thousands of GPUs would require impractical volumes of cabling. DWDM also aligns perfectly with CPO, where each photonic engine already modulates multiple wavelengths. Also, whereas traditional photonic designs integrate lasers into each module, adding heat, complexity, and failure points, ELS decouples the lasers into a central, serviceable unit that supplies stable light across hundreds of ports.
Eric Mounier
PhD, Chief Analyst, Photonics at Yole Group
Benefits include lower component counts (fewer total lasers), improved reliability (lasers live in controlled, replaceable modules rather than hot ASIC packages), simplified thermal management, and higher power efficiency, since one DWDM laser bank can serve many modulators. This is a significant development because, in the future, one can even imagine dedicated racks of lasers.
Together, DWDM and ELS create scalable, power-efficient optical fabrics that can extend not only across racks but also across data center halls and campuses. DWDM lasers, with their narrow linewidth and precise frequency stability, can seamlessly integrate into existing long-haul optical systems, enabling future AI “mega-factories” Or “farms”.
Where Scintil makes a difference
This is precisely the gap Scintil Photonics is addressing. Its SHIP™ (Scintil Heterogeneous Integration Photonics) platform integrates lasers, modulators, and photodiodes on a single silicon chip. By consolidating what are typically dozens of separate components, SHIP provides unmatched density, manufacturability, and energy efficiency.
Its flagship product, LEAF Light™, is the industry’s first DWDM-native single-chip light engine. It delivers 6.4 terabits per second per millimeter of edge bandwidth density, at about one-sixth the power consumption of conventional pluggable solutions.
Another crucial advantage is that the technology is “foundry-aligned”, so LEAF Light can be produced at scale within commercial supply chains, giving hyperscale operators confidence in volume deployment.
As shown in the figure below, Scintil is perfectly integrated into the CPO industry ecosystem to play a pivotal role in the deployment of this system technology.
Backed for global growth and lighting the future of AI
The $58 million Series B round will fund hiring in France and the U.S., expand production, and support Scintil’s entry into global AI markets. Investors such as NVIDIA and Yotta Capital see Scintil as a critical enabler of next-generation AI infrastructure.
Bo Ilsoe
Managing Partner at NGP Capital
Integrated photonics is becoming the foundation of all AI infrastructure, and Scintil is turning that future into reality.
Martin Vallo from Yole Group
AI factories of the future will require networks that are faster, denser, and more sustainable. DWDM and ELS will play a central role in this transformation, and Scintil’s LEAF Light is positioned as a cornerstone technology to deliver both scale and efficiency.
By cutting power per bit, simplifying fiber infrastructure, and providing a manufacturable single-chip solution, Scintil Photonics is not just keeping pace with AI’s growth. It is helping to shape the very architecture of tomorrow’s data centers.
Eric Mounier, PhD, is Chief Analyst, Photonics at Yole Group.
With more than 30 years’ experience in the semiconductor industry, Eric provides daily in-depth insights into emerging semiconductor technologies such as quantum technologies, the Metaverse, terahertz, photonics, and sensing.
Based on relevant methodological expertise and a significant technological background, Eric works closely with all Yole Group’s teams to highlight disruptive technologies and analyze business opportunities through technology & market reports and custom consulting projects.
Eric has spoken at numerous international conferences, presenting Yole Group’s vision of emerging semiconductor technologies, markets, and applications.
Previously, Eric held R&D and Marketing positions at CEA-Leti (France).
Eric Mounier has a PhD in Semiconductor Engineering and a degree in Optoelectronics from the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble (France).
Martin Vallo, PhD, is Senior Technology & Market Analyst, Photonics at Yole Group.
Martin specializes in optical communication and semiconductor lasers within the Photonics & Sensing activities at Yole Group. With 12 years’ experience within semiconductor technology, Martin is involved today in the development of technology & market products as well as the production of custom consulting projects.
Prior to his mission at Yole Group, Martin worked at CEA (Grenoble, France), focusing on the epitaxial growth of InGaN/GaN core-shell nanowire LEDs by MOCVD and their characterization for highly flexible photonic devices.
Martin graduated from the Academy of Sciences, Institute of Electrical Engineering (Slovakia), with an engineering degree in III-nitride semiconductors.
Martin Vallo PhD, Senior Technology & Market Analyst, PhotonicsGrowth will come from replacing pluggables in scale-out networks, and from moving scale-up networks away from copper, where optics overcome bandwidth and distance limits.
Eric Mounier PhD, Chief Analyst, Photonics at Yole GroupBenefits include lower component counts (fewer total lasers), improved reliability (lasers live in controlled, replaceable modules rather than hot ASIC packages), simplified thermal management, and higher power efficiency, since one DWDM laser bank can serve many modulators. This is a significant development because, in the future, one can even imagine dedicated racks of lasers.
