Salience Labs reportedly raises $125M to scale optical AI switches

Salience Labs builds optical circuit switches for teams assembling AI data-center networks, routing data between computing systems while keeping the signal as light. City A.M., in a report carried by Tiger Brokers, says the Oxford company raised a $125 million Series B led by Bullhound Capital. AMD Ventures and Intel Capital joined the round, which the report says will help expand manufacturing and the company’s Silicon Valley presence.

The company’s OC-32M takes 32 optical inputs and can route them to 32 outputs. Salience packages the photonic switching chip with driving electronics, firmware and standard fiber connectors, then provides the system in a rack-mounted box for customer evaluation and development. Prospective users can therefore test an integrated platform rather than assemble those components separately.

Today’s electrical switches rely on optical transceivers to move signals between the optical and electrical domains. Salience’s module removes those transceivers from the switching step. The company lists latency of 10 nanoseconds, reconfiguration in less than 300 microseconds and power use below one watt per port; those are Salience’s product specifications.

Salience described a 64-port switch shown at a September industry event as a demonstration. Its current product page still centers on the 32-port OC-32M and the corresponding evaluation platform. The distinction matters because the reported financing is meant to expand production while the larger configuration remains publicly presented as a demonstration.

In its 2025 Series A announcement, Salience said customers wanted photonic switches that could connect AI clusters while fitting existing infrastructure. That release described the $30 million round as capital to continue developing the switches and bring them to customers. The newly reported Series B is more than four times that earlier round, but neither the financing report nor the current product page names a commercial buyer.

Salience had not listed the new financing on its news page as of October 13; the $30 million Series A remained its latest funding announcement there. City A.M.’s report did not disclose a valuation. The $125 million round should therefore be treated as reported rather than company-confirmed.