Olix Computing, a UK-based startup building photonic AI chips, closed a $312 million Series B that values the company at $3.3 billion, a jump from roughly $1 billion months ago when it raised $220 million in February 2026. Formerly known as Flux Computing before rebranding in January 2026, Olix makes Optical Tensor Processing Units (OTPUs) that use light instead of electricity to process AI models, claiming the approach is faster, cheaper, and more energy-efficient than traditional GPU setups. The key innovation is eliminating the need for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), an expensive and supply-constrained component in Nvidia’s data center GPUs, with an architecture that reimagines data centers as “token factories” for AI inference. Founder James Dacombe, a 25-year-old Thiel Fellow, started the company in March 2024. The round was backed by Hummingbird Ventures, Plural, Vertex Ventures, and Entrepreneurs First, among others, with total funding now surpassing $300 million. The company plans to expand into the US and Canada, focusing on “AI infrastructure sovereignty.” While competitors like Cerebras and Groq pitch alternative chip architectures, Olix’s photonic approach is distinct from silicon-based alternatives. The $3.3 billion valuation is aggressive, as Cerebras was valued at around $4 billion before its IPO filing with years more revenue history, and manufacturing photonic chips at scale with competitive yields