SMART Photonics has raised 6 million euros in investments. In addition, an amount of 4.5 million euros in loans has been converted into shares. This means a strengthening of the equity capital of 10.5 million euros. This will expand the production facility for photonic chips on the High Tech Campus

Written by Hanneke van den Nieuwenhof, ED

The ambition of the company is big. In fact, SMART Photonics promised three years ago at the opening of the company's first (pilot) production environment that it would open a new factory for photonic chips in Eindhoven this year. Costs: a hundred million. But the money isn't there yet and the growth strategy has changed. 

"At the time, a new factory seemed the most obvious option, but we have now opted for a different growth strategy. We rent more and more square meters in our current premises on the High Tech Campus and we set up extra spaces to expand our capacity. Instead of a jump investment of one hundred million, we are now doing it in intermediate steps", says Robert Feelders, financial director of SMART Photonics.

"We are expanding our production capacity step by step and can show what we want to show: we already work for large customers who have enough financial means to go into the production phase after the development phase, so we take less risk, but expect more returns."

This article is published in Dutch in Eindhovens Dagblad. Read more.