OAKLAND, California, May 31 (Reuters) - Lightmatter, a Boston-based startup using light for AI computing, said on Wednesday it raised $154 million and tripled its valuation as customers in need of faster, more energy efficient computing for AI work are buying its systems. "We use light to link computer chips together and we also use light to do calculations for deep learning," Lightmatter co-founder and CEO Nick Harris said. "The reason that we're getting these customers and data center scale deployments with our interconnect is that the generative AI boom is driving high-end chips like crazy." Light has been used for decades in the telecommunications industry to move data across the world with fiber optic cables. Harris said Envise will be able to run large AI models but will not train them.

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Persons: Lightmatter, Nick Harris, Harris, Envise, Jane Lanhee Lee, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: GV, Google Ventures, Inc, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Thomson Locations: OAKLAND, California, Boston