The New Paradigm in Europe
Europe is undergoing a profound shift in how it understands technology development. In a context of increasing geopolitical uncertainty, supply-chain disruptions and global competition, technological sovereignty has become both a necessity and a shared European ambition. In this context, sovereignty does not imply isolationism, but rather the capacity to design, manufacture and deploy critical technologies ensuring supply-chain resilience and long-term competitiveness.
For decades, Europe has excelled in generating world-class research outputs and an impressive portfolio of intellectual property. However, the gap between research excellence and market impact remains a challenge, particularly in the semiconductor sector.
Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) represent a rare and timely opportunity to change this trajectory. Europe holds a dense network of leading research centres, specialised foundries, and a growing base of industrial end-users across telecommunications, sensing, healthcare, energy, defence, quantum technologies and AI. This creates a window of opportunity which neither Europe nor Spain are determined to miss again.
However, shifting from fragmented excellence to global impact requires not only funding, but coordinated infrastructure, shared industrial platforms, accessible manufacturing pathways, and a workforce equipped to move seamlessly from research to production. The European Chips Act marked a historic milestone for the European chips ecosystem, establishing a network of Pilot Lines, Competence Centres and shared infrastructures that is already reshaping the European semiconductor and photonic landscape.
PIXSpain Competence Centre has been created to address this ambition. By connecting Spanish research excellence and industrial capability with European infrastructures, Pilot Lines and Design Ecosystems, PIXSpain will accelerate the adoption of photonic integrated circuits and support their transition from concept to scalable market solutions.
The European Chips Act
On 21 September 2023, the European Chips Act was formally adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, marking the beginning of a new era of coordinated European action to strengthen semiconductor capabilities and industrial resilience.
The Act is structured around three pillars:
- Pilar I – The “Chips for Europe” Initiative
- Pilar II – Security of supply and industrial resilience
- Pilar III – Monitoring, coordination and crisis response
In September 2025, European Member States signed a declaration outlining priorities for Chips Act 2.0, which will build on the European Chips Act reinforcing Europe’s leadership in strategic semiconductor technologies – including Photonic Integrated Circuits – with a stronger focus on execution and consolidation.
ChipsJU
Under this initiative, the Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU) is supporting five Chip Pilot Lines dedicated to process development, testing and experimentation, as well as small-scale production. These pilot lines provide open-access, pre-industrial manufacturing environments designed to bridge the gap from laboratory research to industrial fabrication, accelerating technology transfer with a strong industrial perspective.
In parallel, all EU Member States and Norway have established National Competence Centres, which act as local entry points to the European semiconductor ecosystem. These centres provide businesses – particularly SMEs and start-ups – with technical support, training, and facilitated access to large-scale infrastructures developed under the Chips Act, lowering barriers to adoption and innovation.
PIXSpain was born under this initiative, being the only Centre exclusively devoted to Integrated Photonics. More information about the European Network of Competence Centres, including a description of each of them, is available on the aCCCess website.
Spain’s role in the European PIC Ecosystem
Spain is entering a decisive phase in the consolidation of its PICs ecosystem, combining national programs with targeted investments in infrastructure and industrial capability. Strategic public investments – such as €17.2 million from SETT under PERTE Chip for SPARC Foundry in Vigo, the broader €12 billion PERTE Chip programme (2022–2027), and regional RIS3 smart specialisation strategies – are catalysing this momentum. Complementing these investments, Spain has positioned itself as a key contributor to the PIXEurope Pilot Line, coordinated by ICFO, with more than €60 million allocated to Spanish organisations (ICFO, CNM-CSIC, Universitat Politècnica de València and Universidade de Vigo) within a total pilot-line budget of €400 million.
On the industry side, VLC Photonics has secured €5.4 million in grants to expand PIC design and testing in Valencia; iPronics raised €20 million in Series A funding to advance its Optical Networking Engine; and LuxQuanta received a €2.5 million EIC Accelerator grant, with access to €15 million in equity, to further its quantum-secure photonics platform.
Together, these public and private investments demonstrate that photonic integrated circuits have become a strategic national priority for Spain, underpinning its ambitions in technological sovereignty, industrial leadership and value-chain integration.
In this landscape, PIXSpain acts as Spain’s dedicated National Competence Centre for Integrated Photonics. PIXSpain connects Spanish research and industry with European Pilot Lines and design platforms, while driving PIC adoption in national industry and facilitating access to advanced infrastructure. Through alignment with initiatives such as the PIXEurope and EuroCDP, PIXSpain ensures that Spanish stakeholders can both contribute to and benefit from Europe’s large-scale investments in photonic technologies.
