European photonics companies call for support from EU

CEOs from eight leading European integrated photonics firms proposed a robust strategy to Dr. Thomas Skordas, Deputy Director-General, DG Connect, Lucilla Sioli, Director for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Industry, DG Connect, and Werner Steinhögl, Head of Sector, Unit for Microelectronics & Photonics of the European Commission. The strategy advocates for €4.25 billion of investment over eight years to forge a resilient European photonic integrated circuit (PIC) supply chain capable of independently serving EU customers.

The necessity for this plan stems from the observation that Europe's manufacturing capacity for PICs is minimal, and its reliance on non-EU sources, especially Asia, is seen as a risk to the EU’s economic security. Presently, European manufacturing of indium phosphide and silicon nitride PICs constitutes less than 6%, with the EU holding a mere 4% of the world’s assembly, testing, and packaging operations. The Dutch photonics consortium PhotonDelta noted that rival countries are actively trying to acquire European PIC technologies and influence small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the EU PIC supply chain.

The blueprint was presented at the PIC Summit Europe by executives from XFAB, SMART Photonics, Aixtron, PHIX Photonics Assembly, VLC Photonics, Almae, Ligentec, and PhotonDelta. Key recommendations of the plan include:

• Allocating over €2 billion to scale up the industrial production of InP and SiN PICs within the EU.
• Granting EU PIC SMEs access to Test and Experimentation facilities that resemble commercial lines and equip them with the latest wafer processing hardware, matching industry-standard sizes.
• Creating a €200 million resilience fund to underpin the PIC manufacturing supply chain, strengthening ties and reducing weaknesses.
• Setting aside €360 million to fuel application development by offering design tape-outs, leading to the creation and validation of industrial photonic design IP, grounded on hardware testing.
• Encouraging collaboration among various industry sectors and within the European PIC ecosystem.

Johan Feenstra, CEO of SMART Photonics, remarked: “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.”