NcodiN: Illuminating the Future of AI Computing
NcodiN (legally SAS NcodiN) is a pioneering deep-tech semiconductor company headquartered in Paloiseau, France, within the prominent Paris-Saclay innovation cluster. Founded in 2023 as a spin-off from the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (C2N), a joint laboratory of the CNRS and Universit? Paris-Saclay, NcodiN is dedicated to redefining the architecture of high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence. The company?s mission is to break the "copper wall"?the physical and energy limits of traditional electrical interconnects?by integrating advanced silicon photonics directly into the heart of the processor.
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The Vision: Overcoming the "Copper Wall"
As Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models (LLMs) continue to scale, the semiconductor industry faces a critical bottleneck known as the Copper Wall. Traditional electrical interconnects (copper wiring) used to transmit data between chiplets within a processor are struggling to keep up with the massive bandwidth and energy efficiency requirements of modern AI factories.
The resistance of copper leads to significant heat generation and signal degradation as data speeds increase and distances grow across modern, large-scale chiplet architectures. NcodiN addresses this challenge by replacing these electrical links with light-based (photonic) communication, enabling data transfer that is faster, cooler, and significantly more energy-efficient.
Core Technology: The World?s Smallest Nanolaser
The technical cornerstone of NcodiN is its proprietary nanolaser technology, which is claimed to be the smallest laser ever integrated directly onto a silicon substrate. Integrating a light source directly onto silicon has long been considered the "holy grail" of silicon photonics, as silicon itself is an indirect bandgap material and notoriously poor at emitting light.
Technical Breakthroughs:
- Extreme Integration Density: NcodiN?s nanolasers are approximately 500 times smaller than current industry-standard laser sources. This allows for a density of over 10,000 devices per square millimeter, enabling massive parallelization of data channels.
- Unrivaled Energy Efficiency: The company has demonstrated proof-of-concept optical links with an efficiency of less than 0.1 pJ/bit (picojoules per bit). This is a dramatic improvement over traditional electrical interconnects, which consume significantly more power as data rates climb.
- CMOS Compatibility: The fabrication process is designed to be compatible with standard 300-mm CMOS pilot lines, allowing the technology to be manufactured using existing semiconductor infrastructure.
Product Portfolio: NConnect?
NcodiN?s primary commercial offering is the NConnect? platform, an advanced photonic interposer designed for the "more-than-Moore" era of chiplet-based processor design.
1. Photonic Interposer Platform
NConnect acts as a high-speed optical highway between tens or even hundreds of chiplets. Instead of a traditional silicon interposer that uses electrical traces, the NConnect interposer uses light to beam information across the package.
* Petabit-scale Bandwidth: The platform is engineered to support data traffic reaching the Petabit-per-second range, meeting the demands of next-generation GPUs and AI accelerators.
* Plug-and-Play Integration: Designed as a non-disruptive solution, NConnect can be integrated into existing chiplet architectures without requiring a fundamental redesign of the processor core logic.
2. Integrated Optical Links
NcodiN provides complete optical link solutions that include:
* Nanolasers: The ultra-compact light transmitters.
* Nanodetectors: High-speed receivers integrated on silicon to convert light back into electrical signals.
* Silicon Waveguides: The microscopic "fiber optics" on the chip that guide the light between components.
3. R&D and Prototyping Services
Operating out of its independent cleanroom facilities in France, NcodiN offers joint development and rapid prototyping services for strategic partners. This allows semiconductor manufacturers to test the integration of NcodiN's photonic foundation within their specific chip designs.
Market Applications
NcodiN?s solutions are targeted at sectors requiring extreme computational density and high-volume data movement:
- AI Factories & Data Centers: Powering the next generation of generative AI training and inference hardware by removing memory bandwidth bottlenecks.
- High-Performance Computing (HPC): Supporting massive simulations in fields such as climate modeling, genomics, and fluid dynamics.
- Autonomous Driving: Enabling the real-time processing of massive sensor data streams required for Level 4 and Level 5 autonomy.
- Telecommunications: Enhancing the backplane of high-speed networking equipment for 6G and beyond.
Leadership and Strategic Backing
NcodiN was co-founded by a team of pioneers in nanophotonics:
* Dr. Francesco Manegatti (CEO): An expert in photonics and semiconductor innovation who invented the core technology during his doctoral research.
* Dr. Fabrice Raineri (CSO): A professor and renowned researcher in nanophotonics with over 15 years of experience in the field.
* Dr. Bruno Garbin (CTO): A specialist in semiconductor fabrication and the industrialization of photonic components.
In late 2025, the company secured a ?16 million ($18.4 million) Seed financing round led by MIG Capital, with participation from historical investors such as Elaia, Earlybird, and OVNI Capital, as well as new partners including Maverick Silicon and PhotonVentures. The company is advised by industry luminaries such as Eli Yablonovitch, known as the father of photonic crystals, and veterans from Cisco, Intel, and Luxtera.
With this strategic funding, NcodiN is scaling its production toward high-volume manufacturing and establishing a presence in Silicon Valley to better serve its global client base of chip manufacturers and hyperscale data center operators.
