The Dutch semiconductor cluster extends beyond conventional silicon. SMART Photonics manufactures photonic integrated circuits using indium phosphide, a material platform particularly suited to generating, modulating and detecting light on-chip.
That capability matters for high-speed communications, sensing and emerging optical-compute architectures. It also gives Brainport manufacturing exposure to a part of the value chain where Europe is trying to retain sovereign industrial capability.
A foundry model spreads development cost across customers
SMART Photonics operates as an independent foundry rather than building one vertically integrated end product. Its multi-project wafer runs allow different designers to share fabrication runs, lowering the threshold for experimentation and early commercial development.
The company says its platform has supported more than 300 chip designs, with a catalogue of more than 50 building blocks and a patent portfolio above 100. Those figures are better indicators of ecosystem use than a generic claim that photonics is a growth market.
The 6-inch line is the next industrial milestone
SMART currently cites 4-inch InP wafer production and is developing a 6-inch pilot line targeted for the end of 2027. Larger-wafer capability can improve manufacturing economics and is strategically important if European photonics is to move from research programmes toward larger-volume production.
The correct status today is therefore planned pilot-line expansion, not completed 6-inch mass production.
Why DBR treats photonics as part of semiconductor research
Photonics shares many of the same industrial constraints as semiconductors: cleanrooms, process control, packaging, specialised equipment, design tools and scarce technical labour.
Connecting SMART Photonics to the broader Dutch semiconductor database, PhotonDelta research and Brainport talent analysis makes the cluster easier to understand as a manufacturing system rather than a collection of unrelated technologies.
| Indicator | Current company disclosure |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2012, Eindhoven |
| Foundry model | Independent pure-play InP foundry |
| Current wafer platform | 4-inch InP |
| Chip designs supported | 300+ |
| Specialists | 190+ |
| Next manufacturing milestone | 6-inch pilot line expected by end-2027 |