Photonic Computing is a computing paradigm that uses light rather than electrical signals to perform information processing and data transmission. It relies on optical components such as waveguides, modulators, and interferometers to execute operations, often enabling high bandwidth, parallelism, and low energy consumption. Photonic computing is applied in areas such as high-performance computing, artificial intelligence acceleration, and optical communication systems where speed and efficiency are critical.
NEC Laboratories America has formed two new departments from its Optical Networking and Sensing group. Optical Communications and Computing, led by Yue-Kai Huang, and Optical Sensing and Solutions, led by Yue Tian, will carry the lab’s photonics research into new territory.
Eric C. Blow of NEC Laboratories America presents a keynote at COOL Chips 29 in Tokyo, exploring multi-modal photonic computing for real-time, ultra-efficient inference. This work highlights how photonics is reshaping AI performance, enabling faster and more energy-efficient processing across next-generation systems.