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Forward-looking: Silicon photonics could provide an alternative solution to the growing pains of purely silicon-based chips in computing and data transmission. Light-based CPUs are likely still a long way off, but connectivity is improving fast thanks to Google’s X and other startup-focused ventures.
Google’s X company is working on the next generation of Taara, a silicon photonics technology designed to bring fast broadband speeds to some underdeveloped areas of the world. According to statements by Taara general manager Mahesh Krishnaswamy, this light-based solution could offer unprecedented connectivity opportunities in any part of the world – and beyond.
Project Taara makes use of some of the technologies developed by Loon LLC, the Alphabet subsidiary that was working on internet access for rural areas until 2021. As a part of Google’s X initiative, Taara is tasked with building prototypes of “moonshot technologies” that can bring real change while turning into a tenable business prospect.
The newly introduced Taara chip is a complete redesign of the organization’s first-gen technology. Taara Lightbridge units are as big as traffic lights, Krishnaswamy explained, and they use a complex mechanical contraption made of mirrors, sensors, and other hardware components to physically steer light. When two Taara Lightbridge units finally “connect,” light beams create a stable link that can be used to transmit digital data.
A Taara Lightbridge unit can be installed in hours instead of the days, months, or even years required to lay a proper fiber-based optical network. The process should become even easier with the Taara chip as Google’s silicon photonics technology is now abandoning most mechanical components for a new solid-state solution.
Thanks to an innovative optical phased array, light beams can now be steered with “extraordinary” precision to create a reliable data link. Taara chip’s hardware components are much simplified, Google said, with software algorithms doing the bulk of the work required to steer, track, and correct light beams. A single Taara chip includes hundreds of software-controlled tiny light emitters.
Google tested the new Taara chips at its Moonshot Factory labs, achieving speeds of 10 Gbps over distances of 1 km in an outdoor environment. Google said this represents a record-breaking result for data transmission over silicon photonics chips, and the team is now working to expand the chip’s capacity, packing thousands of light emitters at once.
Krishnaswamy is enthusiastic about the potential applications of the new Taara technology. Solid-state silicon photonics can reduce the cost of internet connectivity in a drastic way, and the entire industry could change through a “network” effect. “Using chips deployed in a global mesh network, we see opportunities to bring high-speed internet to underserved regions, rethink the way data centers are built and operated, enable faster, create safer communication for autonomous vehicles, and so much more. The possibilities are as boundless as light itself,” Taara’s manager said.
The organization plans to launch a new product based on the Taara chip sometime in 2026. Researchers and other innovators interested in the technology can get in touch with Taara’s team via mail.
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