Q.ANT Launches Open-Source SDK for Photonic Computing
News related to:Q.ANT · 2 min read
STUTTGART, Germany, Sept. 23, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Q.ANT, the pioneering company in commercial photonic computing, has launched the world's first open-source software development kit (SDK) for photonic computing. This move marks a significant step in making photonic computing accessible to a broader developer community.
The SDK, which is now available on GitHub, includes an API for programming languages such as C and Python, sample applications, documentation, and a simulation backend that runs on a standard CPU. This allows developers to build and validate applications on their own systems before running them on real photonic hardware.
Q.ANT's Native Processing Units (NPUs) enable computation using light instead of electricity, offering several advantages over traditional computing methods. According to the company, the computation itself happens in the optical domain, where non-linear functions are executed natively. This reduces the need for data to be constantly shuttled between memory and processor, leading to more expressive networks with fewer parameters and greater energy efficiency.
Michael Förtsch, Founder and CEO of Q.ANT, emphasized the importance of making photonic computing accessible to developers.
The SDK includes examples of advanced neural networks that achieve better results with significantly fewer parameters. This is a key feature of Q.ANT's technology, which is designed to reduce energy consumption and improve computational efficiency. The company's photonic chip changes the way data is processed, making it possible to build more expressive networks with fewer parameters.
Q.ANT's technology is particularly well-suited for AI inference and training, scientific programming, and image processing. The company's Native Processing Units (NPUs) perform mathematical operations directly on Thin-Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN) based photonic integrated circuits, offering energy-efficient, high-performance co-processing for complex computational tasks.
In the coming months, Q.ANT will open access to its breakthrough hardware through the cloud via commercial partner IONOS or through on-premise installations of its Native Processing Server. Developers who start building with the SDK today will be ready to take full advantage of these new computing technologies once hardware access becomes available.
The SDK is designed to sit alongside the environments developers already work in, and to serve as the foundation software developers need to build frameworks and higher-level tools as the architecture scales.
Q.ANT's European headquarters is in Stuttgart, Germany, where it operates its own TFLN chip pilot line with IMS CHIPS. The company secured Europe's largest Series A for photonic computing in 2025 and introduced its second-generation processor the same year, now installed and running at leading scientific computing centers with its first commercial deployment planned for 2026.
This release marks the first openly available SDK for programming a photonic processor, giving developers a historic opportunity to program core operations. The SDK also includes examples for a direct comparison between a classical neural network and an advanced neural network based on photonic native operations, benchmarked on parameter count, accuracy, functional approximation, and training loss.
Q.ANT was founded in 2018. Its European headquarters is in Stuttgart, Germany, where it operates its own TFLN chip pilot line with IMS CHIPS, and it maintains a U.S. office in Austin, Texas.