Through its X Development LLC business, Google has introduced the Taara chip, a silicon photonic chip that uses light to transmit high-speed data through the air. A blog post published by Taara general manager Mahesh Krishnaswamy last week said that the company has demonstrated the transmission of data at 10 Gbps over distance of 1 km using two Taara chips. Developed by Google’s X Development business, the Taara chip is capable of transmitting data at up to 20 Gbps over the air at distances up to 20 km. Courtesy of X Development. The device is the successor to the Taara Lightbridge, X Development’s first-generation system which used a system of mirrors, sensors, precision optics, and hardware to steer light. The technology was developed to transmit data without the use of optical fiber or crowded radio frequencies. The Taara chip scales the technology down from the size of a traffic light to the size of a fingernail. While the Taara Lightbridge steers light physically, many of the mechanical components have been removed in the Taara chip to make way for a solid-state solution for automatic beam steering. The heart of the innovation, X Development said, is an optical phased array that steers, tracks, and corrects light with high levels of precision. Each chip contains hundreds of software-controlled light emitters that allow the manipulation of the light’s wavefront and directions. According to the company, the chip is capable of transmitting at speeds up to 20 Gbps at distances up to 20 km. X Development’s team plans to extend both the chip’s range and capacity by creating an iteration with thousands of emitters. The team expects the next generation chip to be available in Taara’s next product launch in 2026.