OLIX

OLIX is a London-based semiconductor company building end-to-end infrastructure for frontier AI inference — the chips, the lasers and the network that connects them. It was founded in March 2024 by James Dacombe, then 24, and incorporated as Flux Corp Ltd before rebranding to Olix Computing Ltd in January 2026. Its first product is the DX-1, a decode accelerator in the X-1 platform targeted specifically at the output-generation stage of large language models rather than at general-purpose training. The design makes two unusual bets: it uses SRAM in place of high-bandwidth memory, removing the dependence on HBM supply and advanced packaging that constrains most AI accelerators, and it links chips with a 'slow and wide' optical die-to-die interconnect that moves data as light instead of over copper. OLIX claims the DX-1 can sustain more than 10,000 tokens per second per user on 100-billion-parameter models at better throughput-per-watt than general-purpose chips running large batch sizes. Nothing has shipped to a paying customer: tape-out is expected later in 2026 with first deliveries targeted for the second half of 2027. The company raised a $220M Series A in February 2026 at roughly a $1B valuation and a $312M Series B announced 2026-08-03 at $3.3B — more than tripling its valuation in six months, and the largest semiconductor venture round ever raised by a European company. It employs more than 140 people, with the London headquarters supported by offices in Bristol, Toronto, San Francisco and Austin. Stanford professor emeritus Nick McKeown joined the board alongside the Series B.