Optical interconnect company Celestial AI has acquired the silicon photonics IP from Rockley Photonics, including the company’s worldwide issued and pending patents, for $20 million.

The acquired patent portfolio is comprised of three main technology categories including optoelectronic systems-in-package, electro-absorption modulators (EAMs), and optical switch technology, all of which have a number of artificial intelligence (AI) data center infrastructure applications.

It brings Celestial AI’s total IP portfolio to more than 200 patents globally.

Founded in 2020, Santa Clara, California-based Celestial AI is developing an optical interconnect technology platform for data center and AI computing solutions. In March 2024, the company closed a $175 million funding round.

Meanwhile, Oxford, UK-based Rockley Photonics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US at the beginning of 2023, emerging from bankruptcy six months later after undergoing financial restructuring and securing $35m in funding from stakeholders.

Established in 2013 to develop integrated silicon photonics for data communications, the company ultimately pivoted to deploying its technology for wearable healthcare applications and completed a special-purpose acquisition company merger with SC Health in August 2021.

“The addition of Rockley’s IP into our technology platform further accelerates the growth of Celestial AI’s highly valuable intellectual property portfolio and amplifies the strength of our position. These patents fit well into our expanding Photonic Fabric patent portfolio spanning advanced packaging, thermally stable Silicon photonics, and system architectures for optical compute interconnect,” said Dave Lazovsky, founder and CEO of Celestial AI.

“This acquisition reflects Celestial AI’s commitment to protecting Photonic Fabric-based solutions that are being implemented in our customers’ AI data center infrastructure.”