Facing US chip curbs, China launches photonics lab to power AI with light

China has established a top-level laboratory in Shanghai dedicated to Photonic Computing as the country strives to bypass the power constraints and US technology curbs hobbling its ambitions in Artificial Intelligence development.The Shanghai-key-laboratory-of-integrated-photonic-computing-chips-and-systems" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="145199" data-entity-type="organization">Shanghai Key Laboratory of Integrated Photonic Computing Chips and Systems, launched on Wednesday, was China’s first industry-academia platform dedicated to the field, Shanghai’s Jiefang Daily reported on Thursday.Zou Weiwen, director of the new laboratory and a photonics professor at Shanghai-jiao-tong-university" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="22719" data-entity-type="organization">Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said photonic – or optical – computing was “an important pathway for achieving breakthroughs in computing power, offering advantages in bandwidth, latency, and energy efficiency”. The new lab is based at the university.