Chinese Researchers Develop LightGen, an All-Optical AI Chip Outperforming GPUs
Chinese researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Tsinghua University have unveiled LightGen, an all-optical AI chip that outperforms traditional silicon-based GPUs by achieving image and video synthesis up to 100 times faster and with 100 times better energy efficiency than NVIDIA's A100. Utilizing over two million photonic 'neurons' in a 3D stacked architecture, LightGen minimizes heat generation and power consumption, addressing significant challenges in AI datacenter infrastructure, although it remains a prototype requiring further development for complex models. This advancement highlights a growing trend in the semiconductor industry towards photonics, with major companies like NVIDIA exploring optical technologies.
