Engineers have made a breakthrough in photonics by creating glass-based processors

The theoretical physicist believes that he has made a breakthrough in the field of photonics that will allow us to get faster and better processors, which is very important for artificial intelligence , quantum computing and other technologies with a heavy workload. His startup has already received support from NATO, the European government and other key investors.

As reports TechCrunch, the Ephos company has attracted investments in the amount of $8.5 million. These funds will be used to create and operate a new research and production center near Milan, focused on glass-based quantum photonics.

There are other companies like Ephos with bright ideas in photonics, including Xanadu (valued at $1 billion), Photonic (backed by Microsoft), Oxford-based Orca (backed by the US Department of Defense), and others. But chipmaker Ephos claims it is "the first in the world to produce glass-based quantum photonic circuits".

Andrea Roccetto, an Italian theoretical physicist and CEO of Ephos, says that the idea for Ephos and its establishment in Italy came to him during the pandemic, when he was doing research at the University of Texas at Austin after studying in Rome, London and Oxford.

«I returned to Italy, reacquainted myself with the local community and realized that there is a huge human resource here that is completely outside the big technological trends, – he says – There were no startups creating quantum technologies here.

In 2022, he teamed up with three other high-class quantum and computer science researchers – Francesco Ceccarelli, Giacomo Corrielli and Roberto Osellame – and founded the company Ephos.

Today's computing infrastructure is under a lot of pressure. But it's not just about AI. Innovations such as quantum computing are also putting pressure on existing hardware.

According to Roccetto, in the US alone, about 9% of the energy produced will be used to run data centers, so they need to be made faster and more efficient. "Photonics and quantum computing can meet these needs", – he said.

Using chips that process light, particularly photons, is one of the most efficient ways to transmit data, and Ephos believes that building photonic chips using optical fiber will be the best foundation for them. "The chips of our competitors are made of silicon, and light hardly passes from one material to another. By building the entire infrastructure on glass, we can significantly reduce communication losses between fibers and chips, – says Roccetto.

Ephos has one foot in the world of deep technologies, and the other – in a world of commercial opportunities. Its quantum center has already been opened, but the first chips have not yet been manufactured. However, they should appear in the coming weeks "and we expect the production facilities to be fully operational by the end of the year", – said the founder of the company.

In the early days, startups in the field of quantum computing showed interest in the project, but so-called "hyperscale" companies that build their own data centers, as well as enterprises that cooperate with them.

US-based Starlight Ventures is leading the round, which also includes Collaborative Fund, Exor Ventures, 2100 Ventures and Unruly Capital. Among the "angels" participating in the round, – Simone Severini (CEO of Amazon Web Services, who oversees quantum technologies), Diego P’iacentini (former senior vice president of Amazon) and Joe Zadeh (former vice president of Airbnb).

Importantly, Ephos is located in Europe. All over the world, in conditions of geopolitical and macroeconomic instability, there is an active desire of regions to double their own infrastructure in a number of directions. As such, the company has also received support from the European Innovation Council (EIC) and NATO's Defense Innovation Accelerator (also known as DIANA).

Ephos sees its core purpose as meeting the needs of the computing industry. "As a company, we are very interested in establishing transatlantic ties’, – says Roccetto. – We are sure that the defense – this is a critical area for our company's growth because historically the defense sector has been one of the first buyers of new computing technologies. Therefore, we are closely monitoring this direction.