Altman-backed Volantis plans photonic interposer to break the memory wall

San Francisco startup Volantis, backed by Sam Altman, is developing the A-1 AI accelerator that uses a photonic interposer instead of electrical interconnects. The company claims it can pack up to 10 TB of memory at up to 240 TB/s per package, enough to serve a 20 trillion parameter model at 10,000 tok/s per user. It raised $88 million led by Lachy Groom and Abstract Ventures, with an MVP prototype targeted in 12–18 months.

• Photonic interposer uses micro-VCSELs instead of external lasers
• Target: 10 TB of memory and 240 TB/s per package
• Aimed at a 20 trillion parameter model at 10,000 tok/s
• $88M raised; MVP prototype in 12–18 months