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22 Dec 2025
Swiss supplier of industrial technology components to add the family-run precision motion expert to its diverse portfolio.
Physik Instrumente (PI), the Karlsruhe, Germany, company that is well known across the optics and photonics sector for its high-precision motion and positioning equipment, is to become part of the larger Hoerbiger group of companies.
Headquartered in Switzerland, Hoerbiger sells a broad range of components across a number of industrial markets, including gearbox actuators for commercial vehicles, wellhead compressors for the oil and gas industry, and rotary unions used in renewable energy generation.
The planned acquisition of PI - for an undisclosed sum - will add expertise including piezoelectric drives, linear actuators, rotary tables, and multi-axis systems to that portfolio, with the deal expected to close before the end of March 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
Global footprint
Founded in 1970 by Karl Spanner, PI supplies parts and systems for the semiconductor manufacturing, photonics, microscopy, metrology, and medical device industries. It currently employs some 1900 people across its nine production sites and 16 sales and service subsidiaries in Europe, North America, and Asia.
That will augment the Swiss firm’s existing global footprint, which comprises more than 6000 employees at 130 different locations, and enable it to target new growth markets.
On completion of the acquisition, PI will become Hoerbiger’s new “positioning” division, although it will continue to operate as a standalone operating unit, retaining its name, brand, and global market presence.
PI’s CEO Markus Spanner commented: “Joining Hoerbiger marks an exciting new chapter for us and represents the natural next step in PI’s evolution. Together with Hoerbiger, PI will continue its mission of leading in precision motion and positioning technology while remaining true to its culture and values.”
Hoerbiger’s CEO Thorsten Kahlert said: “PI and Hoerbiger are an incredibly good fit. Both companies share the same values, have a strong focus on customer-driven innovation and are leaders in their respective markets with their performance-defining products
“We are very excited to be partnering with the PI team and we are confident that joining forces will strengthen both companies going forward.”
ELT mirror actuators
Among PI’s largest and most recently completed contracts was a deal to provide 2500 hybrid actuators for the European Southern Observatory’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) project.
They will be used to control each of the telescope's 798 hexagonal mirror segments, which are 140 cm in diameter and weigh 250 kg, with extreme accuracy to eliminate imaging errors.
Custom-developed for the ELT project, the PI actuators position the mirror segments, monitor their alignment, and correct any nano-scale deformations caused by gravity, temperature, or wind.
Now under construction for more than a decade, ELT is currently scheduled for “first light” by the end of 2030, at which point the 40m-class observatory is expected to produce images 16 times sharper than those from the Hubble Space Telescope - thanks in large part to the adaptive optical system enabled by PI’s actuators and a set of laser guide stars.
• PI’s US division will be among more than 1000 companies exhibiting products at the forthcoming SPIE Photonics West event, which takes place next month in San Francisco’s Moscone Center.
The company has also been shortlisted for an SPIE Prism Award in the "test and measurement" category, for its "PINovAlign42" high-performance alignment system aimed at applications in photonic integrated circuit (PIC) manufacturing.
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