Celestial AI Powers a Massive Leap in Marvell’s AI Chip Strategy

AI chips have gotten so fast that the copper wires connecting them have become the bottleneck. That unglamorous problem, moving data between processors, memory, and switches without losing speed or burning excess power, is exactly what Celestial AI spent six years solving. It worked well enough that Marvell Technology paid $3.25 billion to bring the company in-house.

This guide covers what Celestial AI actually built, who founded it, how its funding history looked before the acquisition, what the Marvell deal actually involved, and whether there is a Celestial AI stock you can still buy.

What Is Celestial AI

Celestial AI was a Santa Clara, California-based semiconductor startup that built optical interconnect technology for AI data centers, branded as Photonic Fabric. Founded in 2020, the company set out to solve a problem that has become increasingly urgent as AI models grow larger: moving data between processors, memory, and networking switches fast enough to keep up with modern chip speeds, without the massive power draw that comes with pushing more data through traditional copper connections, enabling hardware innovators like Mach Industries in defense technology to build next-generation hardware systems.

As of early 2026, Celestial AI became a wholly owned subsidiary of Marvell Technology, the Nasdaq-listed semiconductor company best known for its data center networking and storage chips. Marvell completed its acquisition of Celestial AI in a deal worth roughly $3.25 billion, folding Celestial’s technology and team directly into Marvell’s Data Center Group.

Understanding Celestial AI today means understanding both what the company built as an independent startup and what its technology now means as part of a much larger public company.

Founders and Leadership

David Lazovsky co-founded and led Celestial AI as CEO, alongside co-founder Preet Virk, who served as Chief Operating Officer. Lazovsky was not a first-time founder. Before Celestial AI, he had already built and led two other companies, Intermolecular and Inorganic Intelligence, giving him a track record in materials science and semiconductor-adjacent businesses before tackling optical interconnects.

Celestial AI’s board and investor base included some notable names from the chip industry. Lip-Bu Tan, who later became CEO of Intel, sat on Celestial AI’s board well before that appointment, and Chase Koch, founder of Koch Disruptive Technologies and Executive Vice President at Koch Industries, was an early and repeat investor through multiple funding rounds.

What Is Celestial AI’s Photonic Fabric Technology

Celestial AI’s core product, Photonic Fabric, is an optical interconnect platform designed to move data using light instead of electrical signals across copper wires. That distinction matters more than it might sound.

Moving Data With Light Instead of Copper

Traditional data center interconnects rely on copper wiring, which runs into physical limits on both bandwidth and reach as data volumes grow. Photonic Fabric replaces those copper connections with optical ones, allowing data to travel further and faster while using less power. Celestial AI claimed its approach could deliver up to 25 times greater bandwidth at roughly 10 times lower latency compared to co-packaged optics, a competing approach used elsewhere in the industry.

Going Beyond the Edge of the Chip

Most optical interconnect approaches, including co-packaged optics, deliver optical signals to the edge of a processor package. Celestial AI’s platform was built to deliver optically encoded data to any specific point on the chip itself, not just its outer edge, which the company argued allows for better disaggregation of compute and memory resources across a data center rack. The technology also integrates with Compute Express Link, an industry standard for memory disaggregation, letting data centers pool memory across multiple systems instead of over-provisioning it in every individual server.

This kind of architecture becomes especially important as AI systems scale from single racks to what the industry calls multi-rack scale-up fabrics, connecting hundreds of AI accelerators with high-bandwidth, low-latency links.

Funding History

Before its acquisition, Celestial AI raised a substantial amount of venture capital to develop its Photonic Fabric platform, reflecting how capital-intensive semiconductor hardware development tends to be compared to software startups.

• Seed and early rounds, 2020 to 2023: initial funding to build out the core Photonic Fabric technology and early prototypes
• Series C, March 2024: $175 million led by Thomas Tull’s U.S. Innovative Technology Fund, with participation from AMD Ventures, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Temasek, Samsung Catalyst, Porsche Automobil Holding, Engine Ventures, and M-Ventures
• Series C1, first close, September 2024: $255 million, adding VentureTech Alliance and Samsung Catalyst Fund and bringing total funding to $520 million.
• Series C1, expanded close, March 2025: an additional $250 million led by Fidelity Management and Research Company, with new investors including BlackRock, Maverick Silicon, Tiger Global Management, and Lip-Bu Tan personally, bringing total funding to more than $515 million.

Tracxn puts Celestial AI’s total lifetime funding at approximately $589 million across six rounds, involving 21 institutional investors and 2 angel investors. The company also acquired the silicon photonics intellectual property portfolio from Rockley Photonics for $20 million in October 2024, adding patents that strengthened its position ahead of the Marvell deal.

For more on how other deep tech startups have staged their fundraising as they moved toward commercialization, our profile on Koch Industries and its Koch Disruptive Technologies investment arm touches on the same investor that backed Celestial AI across multiple rounds.

The Marvell Acquisition

Marvell first announced its intent to acquire Celestial AI in December 2025, and the deal officially closed in early 2026. The acquisition was structured as a mix of cash and stock, with Celestial AI receiving $1 billion in cash and roughly 27.2 million shares of Marvell common stock, valued at approximately $2.25 billion at signing, for a total initial transaction value of about $3.25 billion.

The deal includes an earn-out structure that could push the total transaction value up to approximately $5.5 billion if Celestial AI’s technology hits specific revenue milestones by Marvell’s fiscal year 2029. Marvell has guided toward Celestial AI contributing meaningful revenue starting in the second half of fiscal 2028, reaching a $500 million annualized run rate by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2028, and doubling to a $1 billion run rate by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2029.

The acquisition carried a notable public endorsement from Amazon Web Services, whose vice president Dave Brown stated that optical interconnects would play an important role in the future of AI infrastructure, specifically citing Celestial AI’s progress. Marvell CEO Matt Murphy has compared the strategic significance of the Celestial AI deal to the company’s earlier acquisition of Inphi, a networking chip maker that significantly expanded Marvell’s data center business after that deal closed.

Does Celestial AI Have a Stock Price

This is where things get a little confusing for anyone researching Celestial AI stock. Celestial AI itself never traded as an independent public company. It remained privately held and venture-backed throughout its existence, and after the Marvell acquisition closed, it became a wholly owned subsidiary rather than a standalone public entity.

That means there is no separate Celestial AI ticker to search for. What you can track instead is Marvell Technology’s stock, traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker MRVL, since Celestial AI’s technology and future revenue are now folded directly into Marvell’s business. You can check Marvell’s current stock price on Nasdaq for the most up-to-date figures.

Part of the search confusion around this topic also stems from a separate, unrelated company called POET Technologies, which trades publicly under the ticker POET and also operates in the optical interconnect space. Online forums saw speculation about whether Marvell’s Celestial AI acquisition signaled anything about Marvell’s separate relationship with POET Technologies as a supplier. The two companies are distinct businesses with no ownership connection, and conflating them is one of the more common mistakes people make researching this topic.

Compared to Other Photonic Interconnect Companies

It was not the only company chasing optical interconnects for AI infrastructure, and its position relative to competitors helps explain why Marvell was willing to pay a premium price.

Ayar Labs, another well-funded optical interconnect startup, has focused more narrowly on chip-to-chip optical connectivity using a similar chiplet-based approach, while Lightmatter has pursued photonic computing more broadly, including optical processing rather than just interconnects. POET Technologies, mentioned above, focuses on optical engines and photonic integrated circuits for networking applications rather than the same full-stack scale-up interconnect approach.

What set Celestial AI apart, according to Marvell’s stated rationale, was the combination of its full stack technology platform with production-ready manufacturing partnerships, positioning it ahead of competitors still working through earlier stages of commercialization.

Common Mistakes People Make Researching Celestial AI

A few points of confusion come up often enough to flag directly.

Searching for a standalone Celestial AI stock ticker. As covered above, it’s now a wholly owned subsidiary of Marvell Technology, so its financial performance shows up inside Marvell’s own public filings rather than under a separate ticker.

Confusing Celestial AI with POET Technologies. These are two separate companies in the optical interconnect space with no ownership relationship, despite both frequently appearing in the same investor discussions.

Assuming the acquisition was a simple cash buyout. The deal was structured as a mix of cash and Marvell stock, with an additional earn-out that could raise the total transaction value from $3.25 billion to as much as $5.5 billion depending on future performance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded Celestial AI?

David Lazovsky and Preet Virk co-founded Celestial AI in 2020, with Lazovsky serving as CEO and Virk as Chief Operating Officer.

What does Celestial AI actually make?

Photonic Fabric, an optical interconnect technology platform that uses light instead of copper to move data between processors, memory, and switches inside AI data centers.

Did Marvell acquire Celestial AI?

Yes. Marvell Technology completed its acquisition in early 2026 in a deal worth an initial $3.25 billion, structured as cash plus stock, with a potential earn-out bringing the total up to $5.5 billion.

Is there a Celestial AI stock to buy?

No. It never traded publicly and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Marvell Technology, traded under the ticker MRVL on the Nasdaq.

How much funding did Celestial AI raise before being acquired?

Approximately $589 million across six funding rounds, including a $175 million Series C in 2024 and a $250 million Series C1 extension in 2025.

Is Celestial AI the same company as POET Technologies?

No. They are separate, unrelated companies that both operate in the optical interconnect space, which has led to some confusion in online investor discussions.

Conclusion

Celestial AI spent six years and roughly half a billion dollars in venture funding building optical interconnect technology that Marvell judged worth $3.25 billion to bring in-house, with a path to 5.5 billion depending on how well that technology performs inside Marvell’s data center business over the next few years. There is no separate Celestial AI stock to track anymore. Its future is now tied directly to Marvell’s public market performance, making Marvell’s Nasdaq listing the closest thing to a Celestial AI stock price that currently exists.

For background on the underlying technology category, Wikipedia’s overview of silicon photonics is a solid starting point.