PsiQuantum shows 8×8 optical switch aimed at AI data-center links
PsiQuantum has unveiled an 8×8 optical circuit switch demo built on its silicon photonics platform, with lab-tested loss, crosstalk and reconfiguration figures.
PsiQuantum says it has demonstrated an 8×8 optical circuit switch for AI data-center connectivity, extending a silicon photonics platform the company originally built for fault-tolerant quantum computing. According to the announcement, the device achieved typical lab results of 1.2 dB insertion loss, 40 dB crosstalk performance and reconfiguration in under 3 milliseconds, without optical amplification. The company says it is already sharing samples with selected prospective customers and plans to turn the technology into commercial products in the coming months.
What was announced
The newly disclosed system is an 8×8-radix optical circuit switching demonstration vehicle. PsiQuantum positions it as a response to networking constraints in large AI systems, where moving data among growing pools of compute is becoming a bottleneck.
According to the company, the switch is built on the same low-loss silicon photonics platform it has spent nearly a decade developing for utility-scale quantum computing. The idea is to apply capabilities developed for quantum hardware to a nearer-term market in optical interconnects for AI infrastructure.
Victor Peng, PsiQuantum’s chief executive, said the opening came from the company’s decision to tackle difficult scaling problems early in its quantum roadmap. He added that the company intends to use the technology commercially while continuing work toward fault-tolerant quantum computers.
The technical details
PsiQuantum’s reported figures come from testing in its own labs, not from an independent or peer-reviewed source. The company says the demonstrated switch typically delivered 1.2 dB insertion loss, 40 dB crosstalk and less than 3 ms reconfiguration time, and that these results exceeded its initial device targets.
The announcement also says no optical amplification was required. That matters because amplification adds complexity and can affect system design in photonic links.
PsiQuantum further disclosed that it has developed barium titanate, or BTO, integration at the 300 mm wafer scale and uses a 64×64 BTO switch in its quantum systems. However, the company said BTO is not needed for the new demonstration vehicle or its initial products. In PsiQuantum’s framing, that leaves room for a separate path toward faster and more advanced future switching products while highlighting the baseline performance of the underlying silicon photonics process.
Why it matters
The announcement shows one route by which quantum-computing hardware programs may try to monetize enabling technologies before large-scale quantum systems are fully deployed. In this case, PsiQuantum is drawing a direct line from photonics developed for quantum computing to optical switching for AI clusters.
That crossover is plausible at a technology level: both domains place a premium on low-loss photonic components and scalable fabrication. PsiQuantum argues that the requirements it pursued for fault-tolerant quantum computing are in some respects stricter than those needed for optical switching in AI data centers.
If customers validate the performance and manufacturability, the switch could give the company a commercial foothold in a market adjacent to quantum computing, while also reinforcing its case for the maturity of its photonics stack.
What to watch
The next questions are commercial rather than conceptual. PsiQuantum says it is providing demonstration samples to select prospective customers, but it has not named those customers or announced product pricing, volume timelines or deployment commitments.
Investors and industry observers will also watch whether the reported performance holds up outside PsiQuantum’s internal testing and whether the company can move from an 8×8 demonstration to products that fit real AI network architectures.
The announcement also follows a September 2026 disclosure, cited by the company, that PsiQuantum had signed definitive documentation with the U.S. Department of Commerce to accelerate research and development, domestic manufacturability and performance of critical components, including high-performance optical switches. That link suggests the company sees optical switching as more than a side project: it may become part of a broader industrial strategy built around its photonics platform.
Sources
Facts on this page come from the sources below, retrieved by DesignQuantum.
- PsiQuantum Unveils Optical Circuit Switch for AI Data Centers thequantuminsider.com