Google X has added the Taara chip, a fingernail-sized tool designed to transmit information through exactly directed light beams rather than conventional cables.
In testing, researchers achieved speeds of 10 Gbps over a distance of 1 kilometer outdoors using Taara chips. This milestone, in line with Taara general manager Mahesh Krishnaswamy, can be the first instance of silicon photonics accomplishing such high capability at that range.
Fiber-Like Speeds without Cables
The aim behind Taara is to supply fiber-optic-stage speeds in areas in which traditional cable installations are impractical or too costly, such as remote regions, mountainous terrain, or densely forested regions. Fiber cables require significant underground work; however, Taara removes this step by sending data as optical alerts through the air.
Like fiber optics, Taara relies on light pulses to hold information. But as it doesn’t need to cope with radio frequency congestion, it avoids the bottlenecks that can plague 5G or other bandwidth-heavy signals. Users can also set it up in a fraction of the time, regularly within hours rather than weeks or months.
A Miniaturized Lightbridge
The Taara chip is a compact version of Taara Lightbridge, an earlier Google X generation about the size of a site visitor’s light. Lightbridge aligns two factors of light with mirrors, sensors, optics, and software programs to create a stable link capable of up to 20 Gbps over distances as far as 12.4 miles (20 km). The Taara chip, in addition, miniaturizes these components, establishing the door for a broader range of applications.
Launch timeline
Krishnaswamy says the Taara chip will be available in 2026 through an upcoming X product that has yet to be fully discovered. Meanwhile, Google X is inviting researchers to explore use cases—from connecting isolated communities to constructing quicker, more efficient data facilities, or even enabling new kinds of secure communication for self-driving cars.