Q.ANT receives €62m to advance photonic AI processors
The funds will support the advancement of its energy-efficient photonic processors for AI and high-performance computing.
The investment, one of Europe's largest in the deep tech sector, was co-led by Cherry Ventures, imec.xpand, and UVC Partners.
It also involved participation from L-Bank, Grazia Equity, Verve Ventures, LEA Partners, EXF Alpha of Venionaire Capital, TRUMPF, and Onsight Ventures.
Founded in 2018 by Michael Förtsch and headquartered in Stuttgart, Q.ANT is developing alternatives to traditional transistor-based systems using its Light Empowered Native Arithmetics (LENA) architecture. Q.ANT is a spin-off from TRUMPF, a German machine industry company.
This photonic approach offers analogue co-processing power optimised for complex calculations while reducing energy consumption. As AI infrastructure expands globally, conventional chip technology approaches physical limits and electricity demand increases.
Cherry Ventures founding partner Christian Meermann said: 'Q.ANT's photonic chips stand to radically reduce data centre operating costs while delivering the breakthrough performance demanded by next-generation AI and high-performance computing.
'With early commercial momentum and a world-class team of deep tech experts, Q.ANT is uniquely positioned to redefine the trillion-dollar data centre semiconductor landscape.'
According to the International Energy Agency, data centre energy use is projected to exceed Japan's annual electricity consumption by 2026. Q.ANT aims to address these challenges by computing with light instead of electricity.
The company operates a Thin-Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN) chip pilot line in partnership with Institute of Microelectronics Stuttgart (IMS Chips) and is distributing native processing servers to select partners. These photonic processors are claimed to perform AI tasks more rapidly and with less energy than existing solutions.
The servers integrate seamlessly into current data centres as co-processors, promising efficiency gains up to 30 times greater than traditional technologies, said the company.
This Series A funding will help Q.ANT to scale production capacities and progress the development of next-generation photonic processors. The company also plans to expand its team across various disciplines and extend its reach into the US to accommodate an increasing volume of customer deployments.
Förtsch said: 'Q.ANT was founded with a bold vision: to redefine the way the world computes by using light instead of electricity.
'This investment proves that Europe has both the ambition and the capital to lead – and gives us the strong partners we need to pursue our mission and help shape the future of computing.'
By the end of this decade, Q.ANT aims to integrate its photonic processing technology into global AI systems as a core component, enhancing scalability and energy efficiency.
The company's Photonic Native Processing Server (NPS), now available for early access evaluation, is designed for easy deployment in data centres. It reduces energy demands and heat generation while offering higher compute density.
In February 2025, Q.ANT launched the dedicated production line at the IMS CHIPS for producing high-performance photonic AI chips. This partnership integrates Q.ANT's chips on TFLN material using an existing complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor facility for enhanced processor production.
Q.ANT gains financial backing to scale photonic processing solutions. Credit: Q.ANT GmbH
"Q.ANT receives €62m to advance photonic AI processors" was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand.
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