VLC Photonics lands €5.4M European grant via Spanish government

11 Jun 2025

Hitachi subsidiary also backed by parent company to advance PIC design and test capabilities.

VLC VIP

VLC Photonics, the photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design and test specialist based in Valencia, Spain, says it has secured a new grant worth nearly €5.4 million.

Awarded by Spain’s Ministry of Industry and Tourism, under a wider European economic recovery scheme, the grant is set to support PIC research and industry collaborations intended to accelerate commercial innovations in optical communications, signal processing, and sensing.

“The company will reinforce its capabilities for modeling, simulation, and design of III-V epitaxy, fab processes, and advanced photonic components, including lasers, modulators, and filters, for process design kits (PDKs) in silicon, silicon nitride, indium phosphide, and other emerging materials,” announced VLC.

“Simultaneously, VLC Photonics will also scale up its back-end capabilities for chip and wafer level testing at multiple wavelengths and very high speeds, while expanding towards thermal reliability testing.”

Hitachi support
Spun out of the Universitat Politécnica de Valencia back in 2011 by current CTO José David Domenech and colleagues, VLC Photonics became part of Hitachi in November 2020.

The company offers fabless development services for PICs across numerous sectors, including telecommunications, lidar, and sensing, and sits within Hitachi’s “High-Tech” division, already a key supplier of photonic components used in optical networks.

VLC’s CEO Iñigo Artundo said: “This funding is a significant milestone for VLC Photonics and the broader Spanish semiconductor ecosystem. It enables us to further enhance our research and development capabilities in photonic design and test, to develop groundbreaking technologies and solutions for our customers, and ultimately to reinforce Europe’s ambitions in the global semiconductor landscape."

The funding originates from the European Union’s “Important Project of Common European Interest” (IPCEI) fund dedicated to microelectronics and semiconductor development.

“Through this project, VLC Photonics keeps on supporting its strategic growth roadmap on its two main business lines of PIC design and test, expanding its role as a critical enabler in the European photonics supply chain,” the firm announced.

“Moreover, VLC Photonics has also secured additional funding from the Hitachi High-Tech group to complement the IPCEI grant.”