CAS Star's decade-long photonics bet pays off amid AI boom
CAS Star, a venture capital firm and an arm of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is experiencing significant gains from its investments in photonics. Founded by Mi Lei, who earned his doctorate in optics, the firm has invested in over 200 photonics companies amidst rising demand for optical data transmission as AI data centers move beyond traditional copper connections. A noteworthy success is Yuanjie Technology, a laser-chip company from Shaanxi, whose stock has increased eleven-fold in the past year. Mi Lei's pursuit combines scientific innovation with commercial applications, inspired by themes from Liu Cixin's famed science fiction work.
Key facts
- CAS Star is a venture capital firm founded by Mi Lei, born out of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
- Mi Lei holds a doctorate in optics from the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics under CAS.
- Over 200 of CAS Star's roughly 600 portfolio companies are in the photonics sector.
- Photonics covers sensing, communications, computing, storage, and display.
- Copper interconnects in data centers cause signal loss, heat, and high power consumption, creating a bottleneck for AI.
- Optical links using light instead of electricity are now central to modern data-center design.
- Yuanjie Technology, a Shaanxi-based laser-chipmaker invested in by CAS Star around 2019, saw shares surge more than elevenfold in the past year.
- Mi Lei's office nameplate is 'Wallfacer', referencing Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem trilogy.
Entities
Institutions
- CAS Star
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
- Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics
- Yuanjie Technology
Locations
- Shanghai
- China
- Shaanxi