Microsoft’s joined forces with Barclays to dig into the possibilities of analogue optical computing (AOC) — a pretty wild approach that could shake up how we tackle artificial intelligence (AI) and tricky optimisation problems. Instead of shuffling electrons around, this tech uses light for computation, which could mean insane efficiency and a workaround for the old roadblocks of digital computing.
Their research, published in Nature, dives into a system that can crank out a huge number of operations while sipping way less energy than today’s top processors.
Breaking Free from the Von Neumann Bottleneck
Old-school computers hit a wall called the Von Neumann bottleneck. Basically, the back-and-forth between memory and processor drags things down and eats up extra energy.
AOC dodges this trap by blending computation and memory into one, ditching those annoying digital-analogue conversions that slow everything down.
How Analogue Optical Computing Works
This system brings together 3D optical tech and analogue electronics. It’s got projectors, lenses, sensors, and micro-LEDs working in concert to do the math.
By tweaking the intensity of light, the AOC nails core tasks like addition and multiplication at breakneck speeds. Researchers say this setup can hit roughly 500 tera-operations per second per watt at 8-bit precision — that’s more than 100 times as energy-efficient as even the best GPUs out there right now.
From Lab to Real-World Finance
Microsoft and Barclays wanted to see if this could handle a real-world headache: the delivery-versus-payment securities settlement problem. In finance, making sure trades go through securely and quickly is no small feat.
They picked this challenge because it demands fast, complex optimisation to keep things humming along.
A Financial Partner’s Perspective
Shrirang Khedekar from Barclays, who co-authored the paper, pointed out how AOC might help with other financial puzzles, not just securities settlement. Think investment portfolios, risk models — anywhere you need to crunch a mountain of possibilities without blowing through a ton of energy.
Encouraging Open Experimentation
To speed things up, Microsoft’s putting out its custom optimisation solver algorithm and a digital twin of the AOC hardware. This virtual model mimics exactly how the real AOC system behaves.
Researchers and companies can mess around with algorithms in the digital twin before they ever touch the actual hardware.
Why the Digital Twin Matters
The digital twin gives folks a cheap, low-risk way to see if AOC could help their workloads. It opens doors for collaboration across industries, from logistics to supply chains, without the headache of building a physical prototype right away.
Not a General-Purpose Computer — But a Specialist Powerhouse
Francesca Parmigiani at Microsoft says analogue optical computing isn’t about replacing your everyday computers. Instead, it shines in situations where you need serious efficiency and lightning-fast optimisation.
It’s a game-changer for AI model training, scientific simulations, and financial modelling. In those worlds, speed and energy use really matter.
Potential Applications Beyond Finance
Outside finance, AOC could overhaul how companies manage logistics, design complex systems, or make real-time decisions in autonomous platforms. Healthcare, green energy, aerospace — all those fields might see big gains from this jump in efficiency.
The Future of Light-Powered Computation
The Microsoft-Barclays partnership feels like a clear sign that analogue optical computing is edging away from theory and inching toward reality. If these performance claims actually pan out, AOC could shake up computing—not by tossing out digital systems, but by adding a specialized, ultra-efficient layer designed for the really tough computational jobs of the future.
Now that more researchers can tap into the digital twin and open-source solver, I’d expect innovation in this field to speed up. The race to use the power of light for computation has started, and honestly, the biggest breakthroughs might not be as far off as we once thought.
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Here is the source article for this story: Microsoft shows potential of analogue optical computing in AI