Relativity Networks has announced $22 million in SAFE note funding to develop hollow-core fiber, a technology that transmits data 30% faster than conventional fiber. The funding round was drawn by Rhapsody Venture Partners, Bell Ventures Inc., and Faster Than Glass LLC, among others.
The company also secured a $40 million follow-on order from a leading hyperscaler that declined to be named. Hollow-core fiber transmits light through a vacuum chamber in the centre of the line, bringing it closer to the theoretical limit of light speed than traditional fiber, which transmits light through glass.
CEO Jason Eisenholz estimates that a signal takes roughly five microseconds to travel one kilometre in conventional fiber, but can be reduced to three and a half microseconds with hollow-core fiber. As AI compute scales across data center campuses spanning hundreds of acres, reducing latency by 30% could allow developers to span 30% larger distances before latency becomes a problem.
Eisenholz said the industry is moving from optimising compute and networking to optimising geography, as multi-campus deployments become more common to access available power.