China Claims Optical Chip Outperforms Nvidia in AI Race

• China claims its new optical AI chip, 'LightGen', surpasses Nvidia's top hardware in speed and energy efficiency for generative AI tasks.
• Developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Tsinghua University, LightGen uses photonic computing for 'sustainable AI'.
• The chip reportedly generates high-resolution images, 3D scenes, and videos.
• Researchers also created a generative training algorithm reducing the need for large labeled datasets.
• SCMP reported LightGen's speed at 3.57×10⁴ TOPS and energy efficiency at 6.64×10² TOPS/watt, though SCMP's bias is noted.

Why It Matters: China's 'LightGen' optical chip challenges Nvidia's AI dominance, intensifying the global tech race.