European “photonics” chip companies call for $4.5 bln in EU funding -November 07, 2023 at 06:05 am EST
AMSTERDAM, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Executives from a group of
Europe’s largest “photonic” computer chip companies have called
on the European Union to support the growing industry with 4.25
billion euros ($4.54 billion) in funding to help it compete with
rivals in Asia and the United States.
Photonic semiconductors use light, rather than electrons, to
perform calculations, with advantages in speed and power
consumption, making them increasingly useful for applications in
data centres and cars, among others.
The group presented EU officials at a summit in Eindhoven
with an eight-year plan to support and build European supply
chains, as well as guaranteeing smaller companies access
manufacturing sites to conduct test runs.
“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,” Johan
Veenstra, CEO of SMART Photonics, said at the summit.
The European Union has previously designated photonics as a
strategic technology, and named it as an area for potential
funding under the 43 billion euro Chips Act passed in April, but
it is not clear what resources are actually being devoted to
photonics.
SMART, which is a contract manufacturer of photonic chips,
raised $110 million in July in a mix of Dutch government funding
and debt funding from chipmaker NXP, and equipment
makers ASML and VDL Groep, to expand.
Currently most photonics chips, like most chips, are made in
Asia, with important intellectual property in the U.S.
The statement said low levels of European manufacturing and
over-reliance on Asia in manufacturing and packaging, “threatens
the EU’s economic security and resilience”.
The statement was signed by Germany’s XFAB and Aixtron, the
Netherlands’ SMART Photonics and Phix Photonics Assembly, VLC
Photonics of Spain, France’s Almae, and Switzerland’s Ligentec,
as well as PhotonDelta, a public-private partnership in the
Netherlands devoted to funding photonics.
($1 = 0.9360 euros)
(Reporting by Toby Sterling, editing by David Evans)
