EU photonics companies call for €4.25B support
Eight CEOs present EU Commission with industry growth plan
CEOs from eight of Europe’s largest integrated photonics companies have presented the European Commission with a €4.25 billion funding plan to build a resilient European supply chain for photonic integrated circuits.
The funding would be over eight years with the aim to make the European integrated photonics industry a global leader and have the ability to supply EU customers autonomously.
Currently, less than 6 percent of the manufacturing of InP and silicon nitride PICs is done in the EU and less than 4 percent of global assembly, testing and packaging capacity resides in Europe.
Furthermore, research by Dutch photonics ecosystem PhotonDelta highlights that competitor nations are making concerted efforts to acquire EU PIC technologies and assets along with seeking stakes in EU SMEs companies in the EU PIC supply chain.
The CEOs of XFAB (Germany/France), SMART Photonics (The Netherlands), Aixtron (Germany),PHIX Photonics Assembly (The Netherlands), VLC Photonics (Spain), Almae (France), Ligentec (Switzerland/France) and PhotonDelta (The Netherlands), unveiled the plan at PIC Summit Europe in front of more than 500 members of the global photonics and semiconductor communities.
The proposal makes a number of recommendations including:
Provide over €2 billion in incentives for industrial scale InP and SiN PIC manufacturing capacity in Europe.
Provide EU PIC SMEs access to industrial PIC Test and Experimentation facilities
Establish an industrial PIC ‘manufacturing supply chain’ resilience fund of €200 million to support the investments needed to strengthen linkages and minimise vulnerabilities.
Provide a €360 million fund to stimulate application development through offering design tape-outs, leading to industrial photonic design IP creation and validation based on hardware testing.
Promote and incentivise collaboration amongst vertical clusters and the European PIC ecosystem.
Johan Feenstra, CEO of SMART Photonics, said: “Over the past few years we have been repeatedly reminded that the world is becoming a more volatile and unpredictable place. Global supply chains have been shown to be fragile, and overreliance on one country for critical components is an economic and security risk. This is particularly true of the semiconductor industry.”
“Photonic integrated circuits have the capacity to transform a huge range of industries. It is also fundamental to the advancement of some of the most exciting new technologies. Currently, the EU has a vibrant and growing integrated photonics industry, however, without volume manufacturing, testing and packaging capacity we are incredibly vulnerable to global events and the policies of competitor countries.”
“Our proposal outlines a number of practical steps that the EU can take over the next decade to ensure the continued growth and security of the integrated photonics industry. For just over €4 billion we can build our supply chain and ensure the future of an industry which has the capacity to generate hundreds of billions of Euros each year for decades to come.”
