Chinese chip start-up Biren bets on light-based ‘supernodes’ to match Nvidia
The firm uses near-packaged optics to bypass traditional architecture limits and scale more than 1,000 processor cards across a cluster
Chinese semiconductor design firm Biren Technology has unveiled its next-generation “supernode” solutions – systems designed to link thousands of AI chips across a single cluster – by using optical data transmission to bypass current hardware limits.
The launch underscores how these highly connected server systems have become one of the latest battlegrounds for AI infrastructure companies. The industry is currently racing to scale up raw computing power as artificial intelligence models advance to trillions of parameters and AI agent applications gain widespread adoption.
To break through that ceiling, Biren is betting on a distributed, decoupled supernode architecture and near-packaged optics (NPO), which integrates optical fibres closer to chips to boost data speeds. The layout could allow Biren to scale up to 1,024 cards across a cluster.
“Optical interconnect has become an inevitable choice to break through this bottleneck,” Ding said.
Shanghai-based Biren is only the latest domestic player to announce progress in addressing infrastructure limitations.