TheTechno Optimist.

Photonic Native Processing UnitQ.ANT—Q.ANT deploys second-generation photonic processors at the Leibniz Supercomputing CentrePhotonic Native Processing UnitQ.ANT—Jülich Supercomputing Centre and Q.ANT start a four-year photonic computing partnershipPhotonic Native Processing UnitQ.ANT—IONOS becomes Q.ANT's first commercial customer for photonic AI servers

Photonic Native Processing Unit

by Q.ANTDE

Cut the energy and heat of AI computing by doing its heaviest maths with light, which carries out multiplications without the switching losses of billions of transistors.

PilotStage 3 of 5

Second generation running at LRZ and Jülich; IONOS rolling it out to cloud customers later in 2026.

Updated 19 May 2026Checked 11 Oct0 updates this week

Milestones

Next · IONOS cloud rollout to business users
  1. Founded as a TRUMPF spin-off2018Complete.
  2. Photonic chip pilot line opens at IMS CHIPSFeb 2025Complete.
  3. €62M Series A18 Jul 2025Complete.
  4. Jülich partnership; JSC buys a server18 Nov 2025Complete.
  5. Second-gen NPUs deployed at LRZ18 Mar 2026Complete.
  6. IONOS signs as first commercial customer19 May 2026Complete.
  7. IONOS cloud rollout to business usersTarget 2026Current milestone.

Most important updates

Upcoming

  1. 2026IONOS cloud rollout to business users (next)
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