Lightmatter, a leader in photonic interconnects and supercomputing, has announced its membership in the Ultra Accelerator Link Consortium (UALink™), an industrial initiative aimed at establishing open standards for high-speed, low-latency interconnection for large-scale AI systems. As a collaborative member, Lightmatter will contribute its Passage™ technology, the industry’s first stacked 3D photonic engine, to revolutionize communication between accelerators and enhance the performance of AI clusters.
Innovation in Interconnection for Next-Generation AI
The UALink™ Consortium aims to standardize advanced interconnection solutions for large numbers of AI accelerators, with an initial goal of scaling up to 1,024 devices. Lightmatter, through its Passage™ platform, will collaborate with consortium partners to:
- Break through traditional physical limits: The 3D photonic technology removes the constraints of conventional design, allowing for greater input/output (I/O) density and HBM memory capacity in AI clusters.
- Increase bandwidthBandwidth is the maximum transfer capacity…: The Passage™ platform supports transmission speeds of up to hundreds of terabits per second (Tbps) per chip, significantly improving efficiency and scalability.
- Optimize the training and inference of complex AI models: These enhancements enable tackling increasingly demanding AI workloads.
Steve Klinger, Vice President of Product at Lightmatter, commented:
“The goals of the UALink™ Consortium are perfectly aligned with Lightmatter’s mission to push the boundaries of interconnection in AI. We are excited to collaborate with our partners to redefine scalability and efficiency in next-generation computing clusters.”
Passage™: A Disruptive Advance in AI Infrastructure
Lightmatter’s Passage™ platform, a pioneer in stacked 3D photonic engines, is designed to eliminate bottlenecks in data transfer. Its ability to connect thousands or even millions of processors at the speed of light represents a paradigm shift in the performance of data centers dedicated to AI and high-performance computing (HPC).
About the UALink™ Consortium
Founded by leading companies including AMD, AWS, Cisco, and Meta, the UALink™ Consortium promotes a standardized approach to interconnections for high-performance AI systems. The UALink 1.0 specification, which will be publicly available in the first quarter of 2025, seeks to foster innovation, reduce barriers to implementation, and enable next-generation AI infrastructure.
via: Lightmatter