Optalysys, a company developing silicon photonics technology for secure computing, has partnered with Google HEIR in a collaboration that aims to integrate Optalysys' photonic processing technology into HEIR’s compiler toolchain for fully homomorphic encryption (FHE). This integration aims to address the computational challenges of FHE, making it more commercially viable. 

HEIR, a compiler developed by Google, provides an efficient intermediate representation layer that allows FHE applications to run efficiently across various hardware platforms. By simplifying FHE integration, HEIR makes this cryptography method more accessible to developers, paving the way for commercial applications.

Fully homomorphic encryption is an advanced, quantum-resilient cryptography method that allows encrypted data to be processed without ever needing to be decrypted. It allows organizations to process data while maintaining privacy, opening opportunities for secure data collaboration across industries, even in untrusted environments. However, the high processing demands of FHE have posed a barrier to its widespread adoption and commercial viability.

Per the partnership, HEIR-generated code will run FHE workloads on Optalysys’ optical processing chips. Following a successful trial, Optalysys said that it will continue to work with Google HEIR to refine and expand the integration of optical computing for FHE, with the ultimate goal of bringing next-generation FHE solutions to market.