Photonics assembly foundry Phix finds investment

Phix Photonics Assembly has secured “large” investments from development agency Oost NL and venture capital investment fund Innovation Industries. The injection will be used to aggressively ramp up production capabilities at the Twente-based company.

Phix offers foundry services for the assembly of photonic integrated circuits (PICs), in which optical chips are connected to other components, such as optical fibers, amplifiers and electronics. This is delicate work, which until recently was mainly done by hand. This severely hampered the adoption of PICs, which find application in health care, automotive, sensing and several other markets.

“With the investments by Innovation Industries and Oost NL, Phix has a solid base to further expand the company. Ramping to high-volume production is an essential step for maturing the photonics industry,” commented Phix CEO Albert Hasper. “Phix will play an important role in the mass adoption of applications with integrated photonics,” added Nard Sintenie, general partner of Innovation Industries.