According to the latest report, the Netherlands has decided to invest 1.1 billion euros to promote the development of a new generation of silicon photonics technology companies in preparation for the creation of the next ASML.
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This will mean intense competition between countries and companies around the commercialization of next-generation semiconductor technologies. According to ETNews, of the 1.1 billion euros, 471 million euros came from the Dutch government, and the rest of the investment came from cooperative institutions such as the Eindhoven University of Technology and the University of Twente in the Netherlands.
Moreover, the Dutch funding agency Delta Photon will be responsible for the investment. Silicon photonics technology is an optical transmission technology that replaces electronic semiconductor signal transmission. It is considered to be a new generation of semiconductor technology due to the greatly improved transmission speed and very high power efficiency.
Currently, technology development centered on semiconductor input/output (I/O) is underway. The report pointed out that the Dutch investment is a strategy to seize the future semiconductor market and explore new cutting-edge companies like ASML. ASML has a monopoly on EUV lithography machines required for advanced semiconductor processes.
As the Dutch government joins investment in silicon photonics technology, technology competition between countries has intensified. Recently, with China’s concentrated investment in the field of silicon photonics, there has been a “battle for the throne” in the field of silicon photonics. The Dutch government’s investment was interpreted as a move to restrict Chinese capital.
Mergers and collaborations among businesses around the silicon photonics market are in full swing. Synopsys, the world’s largest semiconductor EDA tools company, and networking company Juniper Networks have formed a silicon photonics joint venture. Their goal is to launch open silicon photonics solutions targeting the high-performance computing, medical, and artificial intelligence markets.
Furthermore, HPE Technologies is also working with silicon photonics company Ayar Labs to develop and commercialize similar technology. Ayar Labs has not only received investment from HPE Technology but also other companies such as Intel and Applied Technologies.
