The Council of Ministers has approved the award of 4.4 million euros to the IMDEA Networks institute within the european program of Integrated Photonics. It may not seem like a lot of money compared to the fortunes invested by the technology giants, but be careful: it is the last element of an eye-catching strategy.
Fifth successful bidder. The IMDEA Networks institute thus joins four other entities that were awarded last July in the same call. The aid granted by the Government is then matched by the European Union, which causes the budget to double in all cases. Thus, we have:
- Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO): 23.1 million euros were awarded, it will receive 46.2 million in total
- Polytechnic University of Valencia: 16.5 million awarded, will receive 33 million in total
- National Microelectronics Center (CNM): 15 million awarded, total investment of 30 million
- University of Vigo: 7.5 million euros awarded, 15 million total investment
- IMDEA Networks Institute: 4.4 million euros awarded, 8.8 million in total
133 million for integrated photonics. With this new award, the Government and the EU will invest a total of 133 million euros to “promote research and development of faster chips with lower energy consumption, thanks to the use of light (photons) instead of electrons.”
Integrated photonics? This technology focuses on using photons (light) instead of electrons to transmit and process information within chips. With this it is possible to obtain higher data transmission speeds and lower consumption and heat dissipation. What integrated photonics seeks is to take advantage of optical components (such as lasers, modulators and detectors) with traditional electronic circuits to combine the advantages of both components.
Technological sovereignty. Although the figure may seem modest in the context of global mega-investments, it is part of an ambitious strategy focused on the research and development of disruptive technologies. The ultimate objective is to promote a key sector for Spanish economic and digital sovereignty, and here the commitment is total to integrated photonics, which is seen as the future of data processing.
The PERTE is still there. The importance of this investment goes beyond research. It is a fundamental pillar for the PERTE of Microelectronics and Semiconductors (PERTE Chip), the strategic plan endowed with more than 12,000 million euros to try to position Spain as a relevant actor in this value chain. This investment is framed not in chip manufacturing, but in scientific capacity and design strategy. The idea is to ensure that Spain has its own talent and technology to develop new generations of components.
Competence centers. To those 4.4 million awarded to IMDEA Networks another 3.9 million euros are added to create two competition centers co-financed by Europe through the JU Chips (Joint Undertaking). The ‘PIXSpain Competence Centre’ will receive one million euros and the MicroNanoSpain Competence Center will receive three million. Both will provide Spanish companies in the sector – especially SMEs – with access to technical knowledge and experimentation spaces.
To compete with TSMC or NVIDIA, nothing. This is not about Spain going to start creating chip factories that can compete with TSMC, far from it. The idea is not to try to create a Spanish-style NVIDIA either. In both cases the resources needed would be astronomical. What is sought is a leadership position in a niche with high added value, which is photonic interconnection technologies.
Goodbye to copper cable. By focusing on integrated photonics, Spain aligns with the work of giants like Intel, TSMC or Ciscowhich have been investing heavily in this technology for some time to solve the challenge of interconnections in data centers. Everything indicates that integrated photonics could end up replacing copper cables in high-speed communications in the next decade.
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