Overview
Celestial AI built the Photonic Fabric, an optical interconnect technology designed to overcome the memory and bandwidth bottlenecks of large-scale AI computing. By using light rather than copper to move data between chips, memory and accelerators, the Photonic Fabric promised far higher off-package bandwidth and substantially lower latency and power than conventional electrical interconnects, enabling disaggregated, scale-up AI systems.
Funding and Acquisition
Founded in 2020 by David Lazovsky and Preet Virk, Celestial AI raised more than $515 million, including a $175 million Series C led by the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund and a $250 million Series C1 led by Fidelity with participation from AMD Ventures and Temasek. In February 2026, Marvell Technology acquired Celestial AI in a deal valued at roughly $3.25 billion, with earnouts potentially raising the total.
Why It Matters
Memory bandwidth has become a primary constraint on AI cluster performance. Celestial AI's photonic interconnect addressed that wall directly, and its acquisition by Marvell folded the technology into a major custom-silicon and optics roadmap for next-generation AI data centers.