🚀 Microsoft unveils an analog optical computer (AOC) for AI!

A team of four Microsoft researchers spent four years developing this breakthrough system, capable of solving AI tasks using simple LEDs—like those in smartphones.

🔑 Key highlights:
• ⚡ 500 tera-operations per watt — over 100× more efficient than NVIDIA’s H100
• ⏱️ One iteration in just 20 nanoseconds
• 🔋 Only 2 femtojoules per operation
• 🌡️ Runs at room temperature using micro-LEDs

The AOC combines analog electronics with 3D optical architectures, performing matrix multiplications optically, while complex calculations remain on silicon.

✨ Advantages over quantum computing:
• ✅ 100% accuracy on binary tasks, 95%+ on mixed tasks
• ⚖️ Quantum systems manage only 40–60% on similar problems
• 🏆 Beat records from the QPLIB benchmark, solving optimization tasks with 500+ binary and 10,000+ continuous variables
• No cryogenics needed — works at room temperature!

The race is on: which will reach the market first — optical or quantum computing?

#Microsoft #OpticalComputing #Photonics #AI