UPVFab forms part of the European Commission project to lead the manufacture of photonic chips

• The Valencian entity is part of the PIXEurope project to commission pilot factories for the manufacture of hybrid photonic chips.
• The project is led by researchers Pascual Muñoz and José Capmany, winner of the Jaume I Prize for New Technologies.
• UPVfab will mobilize 10% of the Consortium’s total financing of 400 million euros to research these components, which are used in self-driving vehicles and biomedicine.
• The project is recruiting in the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, and Germany for staff for this new plant in Valencia.
• The global photonic chip market is constantly growing and is estimated to exceed 1.5 trillion euros by 2023

VALENCIA, Spain, Dec. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The PIXEurope consortium, chosen by the European Commission’s Chips Program as the European pilot line for photonic chips, will include the participation of UPVfab, a laboratory belonging to the Polytechnic University of Valencia, a world leader in the development of this disruptive technology. The project includes the installation of a pilot plant in Valencia, at which these components, which are used in self-driving vehicles and biomedicine, will be manufactured.

The project is 50% co-financed by the European Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU) and the Ministry of Digital Transition. It will require the incorporation of around fifty professionals, whom it is seeking to recruit in the United Kingdom, the United States, Holland, and Germany.

The director of UPVfab, Pascual Muñoz, explained that PIXEurope “will involve investments in pilot manufacturing plants, including for UPVfab, which will be dedicated to hybrid photonic chips, the next technological leap in integrated photonics” and indicated that companies would be able to develop manufacturing processes at these facilities that would then be transferred to industry.

The UPV will mobilize close to 10% of the 400 million euros of PIXEurope financing to establish the pilot plant in Valencia and develop future hybrid chip technologies.

Photonics, a constantly growing market

The growing demand for the needs of digital society is leading to an increase in the global market for photonic integrated circuits, the production of which is expected to grow by more than 400% over the next decade. By the end of this decade, the global photonics market is expected to exceed 1.5 trillion euros, a figure comparable to the entire annual GDP of Spain.

In this context, since 2019, the UPV has been developing a line of collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM), in addition to leading and coordinating PIXSpain, the initiative for development of the integrated photonics sector in Spain. It is also a coordinator of the PIXSpain Competence Center, a node of access to PIXEurope technologies in Spain as well as to training, technology transfer and access to investment opportunities.

José Capmany, a researcher at UPVfab and the Institute of Telecommunications and Multimedia Applications, stressed that this project represents “a strategic opportunity complementing R&D&I in excellence and technology transfer, and aims to increase the portfolio of resident companies at UPVfab”.

About UPVfab

UPVfab is a laboratory belonging to the UPV that is working on the development of hybrid photonic chip technology. It is the only laboratory in Spain working in this field, which is a decisive component in industries of great importance worldwide, such as healthcare, automotive and telecommunications.

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SOURCE UPVfab