News: Optoelectronics
12 November 2020
Hitachi High-Tech acquires VLC Photonics
Tokyo-based Hitachi High-Tech Corp has acquired Spanish photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design house VLC Photonics S.L. (a spin-off of the Universitat Politècnica de València that has experience with various material platforms including silicon photonics, indium phosphide, silicon nitride, PLC and polymer). As a subsidiary, VLC will continue to provide photonic integrated circuit engineering services as part of Hitachi High-Tech’s broader range.
Integrated into wafer materials such as silicon, indium phosphide and silicon nitride, PICs have optical functions with immediate applications in transceivers for optical communications. Internet traffic continues to increase significantly due to the data arising from social media, video streaming services, working from home, IoT and the overall digitization of our economy and environment. In the optical communications market, higher speeds and increased bandwidth are required to satisfy this growing demand. Meanwhile, as demand rises, the market has also had to manage issues of power consumption, size and cost reduction, and manufacturing scalability. Photonic integration provides the means to address all these requirements in a more holistic way than the traditional approach of assembling optical systems from discrete parts.
Hitachi High-Tech says that, as a long-term provider of components and services to the optical communications industry, it is aware of the increasing need of customers for greater integration and innovation. As an independent provider of PIC design, test and engineering services, VLC can help it to serve the new requirements of its existing customers as well as providing a base for the development of new service provisions, adds the firm.
Besides optical communications, PICs are also becoming a critical platform in many industrial sectors such as automotive sensing, environmental testing, health sciences and quantum technology.
Going forward, Hitachi High-Tech aims to provide not only a more complete one-stop service but also engineering services that leverage the strengths of both companies.
www.hitachi-hightech.com/global
