1. Photonics is a new technology. It is more expensive than silicon
2. Silicon can do the compute as fast as photonics, and we understand silicon. Building a silicon chip is 'easy'.
3. The problem is data transport, which silicon cannot do fast enough. We can compute inferences faster than we can get the data
Photonic compute doesn't help with (3). Photonic data transport does, and there are several companies who have entered this market, including several who have already exited with large deals. However, photonic data transport can terminate at photonic compute or silicon compute, and silicon compute is fast enough and cheaper / better understood.
1. Photonics is a new technology. It is more expensive than silicon 2. Silicon can do the compute as fast as photonics, and we understand silicon. Building a silicon chip is 'easy'. 3. The problem is data transport, which silicon cannot do fast enough. We can compute inferences faster than we can get the data
Photonic compute doesn't help with (3). Photonic data transport does, and there are several companies who have entered this market, including several who have already exited with large deals. However, photonic data transport can terminate at photonic compute or silicon compute, and silicon compute is fast enough and cheaper / better understood.