Relativity Networks raises $22 million to bring a faster kind of fiber to data centers — SkimNews
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- Relativity Networks raised $22 million in SAFE note funding from Rhapsody Venture Partners, Bell Ventures Inc., and Faster Than Glass LLC, plus secured a $40 million follow-on order from an unnamed hyperscaler.
- The company sells hollow-core fiber that transmits data 50% faster than conventional fiber by sending light through a vacuum chamber rather than glass.
- CEO Jason Eichenholz said the speed boost cuts latency from roughly 5 microseconds to 3.5 microseconds per kilometer, letting campuses span 50% larger distances before latency becomes problematic.
- Eichenholz sees the biggest opportunity in multi-campus deployments where hyperscalers knit pre-existing data centers into one synchronized machine, noting "the largest systems are distributing the compute across multiple campuses to reach the power that exists."
- He framed hollow-core fiber as the "third era" of AI infrastructure, after GPU compute and intra-data-center networking.
Why it matters: Data center developers are projected to spend up to $4 trillion by the end of the decade but are constrained by power and political limits on where they can build. Eichenholz says hollow-core fiber's 50% latency reduction lets campuses span 50% larger distances, potentially reshaping siting decisions for hyperscale AI infrastructure.
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