HyperLight Corporation, a developer of thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonics technology, has raised $80 million in a Series C funding round led by Taiwan-based MediaTek. The investment will support the company’s efforts to scale production of optical interconnect technologies designed for next-generation AI infrastructure.
The funding round attracted participation from investors across the semiconductor and communications ecosystem, including UMC Capital, Jabil (NYSE: JBL), Foxconn, EDBI, CDIB-TEN Capital, and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). Existing investors Summit Partners, The Engine, Foothill Ventures, and Xora Innovation also participated.
The latest financing reflects growing industry interest in optical connectivity technologies as artificial intelligence workloads drive demand for higher bandwidth and more energy-efficient data center infrastructure.
HyperLight develops photonic components based on TFLN, a material increasingly viewed as a promising alternative for high-speed optical communications. The company said the new investment will help expand manufacturing capacity, accelerate customer qualification programs, and strengthen partnerships across the semiconductor, networking, and systems integration sectors.
“This financing is about more than capital—it is about ecosystem alignment,” said Mian Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of HyperLight. He noted that AI infrastructure requires optical interconnect technologies capable of delivering higher bandwidth, lower power consumption, and large-scale manufacturability across a range of networking applications.
At the center of the company’s strategy is its TFLN Chiplet Platform. The platform is designed to support multiple optical networking applications, including short-reach data center pluggables, coherent data communications and telecommunications modules, and co-packaged optics (CPO). HyperLight said the architecture enables a standardized approach to production while addressing different customer requirements.
The company currently supports 200G-per-lane optical connectivity and is sampling products capable of 400G-per-lane operation. These higher-speed interconnects are expected to play a critical role as AI data centers move toward 3.2-terabit networking and beyond.
Brian Hsu, Managing Director of the MediaTek Innovation Fund, said next-generation AI infrastructure will require optical technologies capable of supporting significantly higher speeds while maintaining power efficiency. He described TFLN as a promising technology for future high-performance interconnects.
The funding follows HyperLight’s recently announced manufacturing partnership with Taiwan-based foundry provider UMC and Wavetek. The collaboration focuses on high-volume production of the company’s TFLN Chiplet platform using both 6-inch and 8-inch wafer processes.
As AI infrastructure investment continues to accelerate globally, optical networking technologies are becoming increasingly important for addressing power, performance, and scalability challenges. HyperLight said its platform approach aims to simplify deployment, reduce manufacturing complexity, and support broader adoption of TFLN photonics across data center and communications networks.
