Q.ANT NPU 2 Photonic Processor for AI and HPC
COMPILED NOTES
Second-gen photonic processor claiming 30x lower energy and 50x higher performance for AI/HPC, shipping early 2026
Q.ANT NPU 2 Photonic Processor
Key Claims
- 30x lower energy use compared to electronic equivalents for AI/HPC workloads
- 50x higher performance on target workloads
- Second-generation photonic neural processing unit
- Shipping early 2026 — one of the first commercial photonic AI processors
Architecture
- Photonic processing using light for matrix operations
- Designed for AI inference and high-performance computing
- Targets data center deployment
Significance
- Q.ANT is a German company (Bosch spinoff) — European photonic computing player
- Alongside Lightmatter (US) and others, validates the commercial photonic accelerator market
- 30x energy claims, if verified at scale, would be transformative for AI data center economics
- Early shipping means real-world performance data coming in 2026
Open Questions
- Claims need independent verification at production scale
- Which specific workloads achieve 30x/50x improvements?
- Comparison methodology vs. electronic accelerators
- Production volume and pricing
Source: Q.ANT NPU 2 — The Quantum Insider, November 2025
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