MoneySeptember 11, 2026via SiliconAngle
Ayar Labs bags $150M in additional late-stage funding to help make bigger AI chip clusters
Why it matters
Ayar Labs' extended Series E signals investor conviction that optical interconnect technology is critical infrastructure for the AI buildout. The funding amount and backing (Nvidia as an existing investor) suggest the networking layer—not just chips themselves—is becoming a strategic bottleneck worth half-billion-dollar bets.
Key signals
- Series E extended to $650M total (originally $500M in March 2026)
- Additional $150M from unnamed investor
- Neuberger Berman led original $500M round
- Nvidia Corp. among existing backers
- Company focuses on chip-to-chip networking for AI clusters
- Late-stage funding indicates path to scale or exit
The hook
$650M total. Ayar Labs just locked in its biggest funding push yet—betting chip-to-chip networking will unlock the next generation of AI cluster scale.
Networking technology startup Ayar Labs Inc. said today it has extended its recent late-stage funding round to $650 million after raising an additional $150 million from an unnamed investor. The company originally disclosed it had raised $500 million in its Series E round back in March, which was le…