PhotonDelta opens Silicon Valley hub
Dutch photonic chip accelerator PhotonDelta has announced the opening of a new office in North America. The move is part of the organisation’s goal to grow the photonic chip industry by promoting collaboration between Europe and North America.
PhotonDelta believes a unified photonic chip industry is essential to fulfil its potential and contribute to solving the challenges the semiconductor industry is facing.
Europe and America have strengths in complementary integrated photonic chip technologies. Silicon Photonics needs InP to function, as one cannot integrate active components on Silicon. SiN, in turn, is particularly useful for sensing applications and quantum computers, as it benefits from extreme low-loss characteristics. In short, depending on the application, a combination of different platforms is needed to unlock the optimal functionalities and characteristics.
Jorn Smeets, managing director North America at PhotonDelta, said: “We want to tap into the North American market and partner with industry leaders to help accelerate this key enabling technology. As we stimulate the internationalisation of our value chain, we need to leverage on each other’s strengths and bring our know-how, operations and funding to North America.”
PhotonDelta has so far secured $1.2 billion to run numerous R&D programmes, lead international roadmapping activities and invest in pioneering startups that apply PIC technology. Over the last five years, PhotonDelta has raised over $500 million for companies such as Smart Photonics, EFFECT Photonics, PHIX Photonics Assembly, Astrapé Networks, MantiSpectra, Surfix Diagnostics, Delta Life Science, Scantinel Photonics, Amazec, and many more.
