This startup, backed by Bill Gates, is looking to transform computing as we know it - optical transistors could upend Moore's Law and allow more powerful GPUs
Tulkas T100 operates at 56 gigahertz with massive RAM support
· TechRadarNews By Efosa Udinmwen published 30 January 2026
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- Neurophos develops the Tulkas T100 optical processor capable of 470 petaFLOPS AI compute
- Optical transistors are 10,000 times smaller than conventional silicon photonics today
- Dual reticle design integrates 768GB of HBM for memory-intensive workloads
Austin-based startup Neurophos has revealed it is hard at work developing an optical processing unit called the Tulkas T100 which promises huge leaps forward in compute.
Funded by Bill Gates’ Gates Frontier Fund, the company claims the chip can deliver 470petaFLOPS of FP4 and INT4 compute while consuming between 1 and 2kW under load.
Its optical tensor core measures approximately 1,000 x 1,000, which is about 15 times larger than the standard 256 x 256 matrices used in current AI GPUs.
Optical transistors and extreme speeds
Neurophos’ optical transistors aim to exceed traditional semiconductor limits by extending Moore’s Law through higher compute density without increasing power consumption or chip size.
Despite its scale, the startup says it requires only a single core per chip, supported by extensive RAM and vector processing units to maintain throughput.
Its optical transistors are roughly 10,000 times smaller than current silicon photonics components, allowing a high-density matrix to fit on a single reticle-sized die.
“The equivalent of the optical transistor that you get from Silicon Photonics factories today is massive. It’s like 2mm long,” said Neurophos CEO Patrick Bowen.
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