{"id":19149,"date":"2025-09-14T21:04:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T21:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=19149"},"modified":"2025-09-14T21:04:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T21:04:06","slug":"engineers-unveil-light-based-chip-that-boosts-ai-efficiency-up-to-100-fold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=19149","title":{"rendered":"Engineers unveil light-based chip that boosts AI efficiency up to 100-fold"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>A new generation of computer chip powered by light rather than electricity could revolutionise artificial intelligence, researchers say.<\/p>\n<p>A team of engineers in the United States has developed a prototype device capable of making AI calculations between 10 and 100 times more energy-efficient than today\u2019s best chips.<\/p>\n<p>The breakthrough centres on one of the most power-hungry operations in machine learning: convolution. This process allows AI systems to recognise patterns in photos, videos and even written text, but it consumes vast amounts of electricity on conventional processors.<\/p>\n<p>Read More:\u00a0From bandages with brains to reborn teeth \u2014 and Google\u2019s $425M headache<\/p>\n<p>The new design instead uses lasers and microscopic lenses etched directly onto circuit boards. In laboratory tests, the chip matched the accuracy of electronic chips\u2014achieving 98% success when identifying handwritten digits\u2014while using only a fraction of the energy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the first time anyone has put this type of optical computation on a chip and applied it to an AI neural network,\u201d said Hangbo Yang, a research associate professor at the University of Florida and co-author of the study.<\/p>\n<p>Lead researcher Volker J. Sorger, from the University of Florida\u2019s Florida Semiconductor Institute, described the advance as \u201ca leap forward for future AI systems\u201d. He added:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPerforming a key machine learning computation at near-zero energy is critical to keep scaling up AI capabilities in years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The study, published on 8 September in Advanced Photonics, involved collaboration between the University of Florida, UCLA and George Washington University.<\/p>\n<p>Also Read:\u00a0AI avatars bring comfort but can\u2019t replace grieving<\/p>\n<p>How the chip works <\/p>\n<p>The prototype integrates two sets of ultra-thin Fresnel lenses\u2014miniature versions of those found in lighthouses but only a fraction of a human hair wide. Machine learning data is first converted into laser light on-chip, passed through the lenses, and then transformed back into digital signals to complete the task.<\/p>\n<p>The use of light has another advantage: different coloured lasers can be used simultaneously to process multiple data streams in parallel, a feature known as wavelength multiplexing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can have multiple wavelengths, or colours, of light passing through the lens at the same time. That\u2019s a key advantage of photonics,\u201d Yang explained.<\/p>\n<p>Industry implications <\/p>\n<p>Chipmakers, including market leader NVIDIA, already use optical components in some parts of their AI hardware. Sorger believes convolution lenses could soon be integrated into mainstream products.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the near future, chip-based optics will become a key part of every AI chip we use daily,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd optical AI computing is next.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new generation of computer chip powered by light rather than electricity could revolutionise artificial intelligence, researchers say. A team of engineers in the United States has developed a prototype device capable of making AI calculations between 10 and 100 times more energy-efficient than today\u2019s best chips. The breakthrough centres on one of the most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}