Bill Gates-backed silicon photonics startup develops optical transistors 10,000x smaller than current tech — optical chip can process 1,000 x 1,000 multiplication matrices

Neurophos, a startup backed by Bill Gates, has developed an optical processing unit (OPU) that outperforms Nvidia's latest AI supercomputer while consuming a similar amount of power. The company's optical transistor is 10,000 times smaller than current technology, enabling it to process 1,000 x 1,000 multiplication matrices. Despite being smaller in size and having fewer tensor cores compared to Nvidia's chip, Neurophos' OPU operates at a much higher clock speed, allowing it to surpass Nvidia's AI GPUs in performance. The company aims to mass-produce its optical transistors using existing semiconductor fabrication technologies but does not expect volume production until 2028.