IBM optics

Speed of light for generative AI

As AI accelerates, so does the need for speed. And nothing moves faster than light. IBM is engineering fibre-optic chips that channel this pure velocity, pushing computation into an entirely new realm.

This film tells a micro-story inside the world of these components—where data becomes light, and light becomes possibility.

The brief began simply, but a proposed director’s cut unveiled a far more evocative narrative potential. That vision reshaped the project, transforming it into the final film: a crafted journey into the hidden world powering the next generation of AI.

Through sweeping macro shots and fluid transitions, the film travels inside the chip’s inner architecture, following light as it bends, ricochets, and threads its way through impossibly small structures. Each pulse illuminates the precision engineering beneath the surface, revealing an intricate choreography of components working at the speed of light. The result is a cinematic exploration of a technology normally invisible: a glimpse into the beauty and power encoded within a single chip.

Press
Motionographer

Credits
Client: IBM Research

Agency: Map Project Office

Sound: Father

Production: Found
Producer: Amy Madden
Director: Ambrogio Bergamaschi
3d artists: Hannah Willcox, Gianluca Barbiero, Georgi Chalakov, Matthew Ball