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Ranovus CEO laser-focused on building a made-in-Ottawa powerhouse

May 21, 2025

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Fresh off a major expansion, Ranovus has set its sights on a lofty goal: becoming a cornerstone of what company founder and CEO Hamid Arabzadeh hopes will be a thriving homegrown ecosystem that helps power the next generation of AI. The Kanata-based photonics firm is ramping up production at its manufacturing facility on Hines Road, which has just doubled in size from 15,000 to 30,000 square feet. “It’s a big step for us,” says Arabzadeh, an engineer by trade who launched Ranovus 13 years ago. Backed by US$170 million in funding from venture capitalists, customers, suppliers and various levels of government, Arabzadeh’s company is one of a handful of firms that are making waves in a still-nascent technology called co-packaged optics. Ranovus’s devices use lasers to move data between chips on the processors that run AI models. It’s a much more efficient way of moving information at high speeds than the copper cables that have traditionally been the roadways for data, and it’s a field that many companies are only just starting to dip their toes into. But from Arabzadeh’s perspective, being on the cutting edge is a bit of a double-edged sword. Ranovus already stands out in a not-so-crowded field after landing deals with a number of international partners that include chip maker AMD, a rival to California-based semiconductor powerhouse Nvidia. But trying to carve out a niche in a market that’s still young also means you’re walking a path that few others have travelled. While Ottawa has a wealth of firms like Ciena, Ericsson and Nokia that specialize in more traditional networking technology, Arabzadeh says it’s tough to find engineers who know the ins and outs of co-packaged optics. “There’s not that many companies that work in our space,” he explains. “The skillset is very different. There are a lot of elements of it which don’t exist here in Ottawa, so you can’t really recruit those people.” Arabzadeh knows he needs to find them if Ranovus is to stay at the forefront of its field. The data centres and other infrastructure that form the backbone of AI are notorious energy hogs, some burning as much energy in a year as hundreds of thousands of homes. Ranovus says the latest generation of its patented quarter-sized chips, called Odin, consume half as much power as current technology. And as the use of AI explodes, demand for products like the Kanata firm has pioneered is rising fast. Besides expanding its own facility in the west-end tech hub, Ranovus has also partnered with photonics powerhouse Jabil to build a $20-million, 16,000-square-foot clean room in Kanata to help package its chips. The company, which has grown from 88 employees two years ago to nearly 130 today, is continuing its hiring spree with the aim of producing 100,000 Odin chips annually. Arabzadeh says he expects the firm’s head count to hit 200 in the not-too-distant future. But where to find those people? Arabzadeh is hoping a new generation of engineering grads from universities such as uOttawa and Carleton will be lured by the chance to get in on the ground floor of a new tech revolution. “We’re trying to retool Ottawa for this new era of miniaturized technology,” he says. “It takes time, but you have to take measured steps to do this.”

Eyeing $25M in revenues

So far, Ranovus seems to be on the right track. In addition to its deal with AMD, the firm also has a partnership with Taiwanese semiconductor company MediaTek, which now integrates Odin chips into its custom AI chips. And this spring, Ranovus landed a major contract to install its technology in a new high-performance AI computing platform designed by California-based Cerebras Systems for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which develops emerging technologies for the U.S. military. “It sort of puts us on the road map of the U.S. government,” Arabzadeh says of the deal with Cerebras. After bringing in about $5 million last year, Ranovus expects to hit $25 million in revenues in 2025. The company has turned a profit in both of the last two quarters, and Arabzadeh says it’s on pace to finish the year in the black. While Ranovus’s chips are fabricated in a foundry in Malta, N.Y., and the company has key customers south of the border, the firm is taking steps to lessen its dependence on the United States market. The firm has inked partnerships with several European firms and maintains an R&D facility in Nuremberg, Germany, where Arabzadeh previously ran optical technology firm CoreOptics. He hopes cross-licensing agreements with partners across the Atlantic will help make up for the lack of next-generation photonics expertise in Ottawa. But Arabzadeh says governments and private industry in Canada need to step up to ensure that more of the technology that powers the emerging AI revolution is developed north of the 49th parallel – and stays here. And that, he believes, requires a change in mindset. “It takes investments from an ecosystem – not just one or two companies,” Arabzadeh says. “There's talent here. We just need to get people building Canadian-owned startups. People are very afraid of failing in Canada. We’re No. 1 in the world in the ranking of being afraid of failure for starting a company. Number one.” As for whether new Prime Minister Mark Carney and his government will prioritize Canadian companies when it comes to filling federal contracts, Arabzadeh says he’ll believe it when he sees it. Carney’s campaign pledge that the feds will focus on a “made-in-Canada” procurement plan for defence goods and services sounds good, he adds, but the proof will be in the pudding. “It’s all about action,” he says. “You know campaign promises – they’re a dime a dozen.” In the meantime, Arabzadeh and his company will keep forging ahead. If all goes according to plan, he says, Ranovus will take another big leap forward with an initial public offering in 2027. “We’re not successful yet,” he insists. “Once we go public, we’re successful. That would be good for Canada.”