Hitachi High-Tech Corporation, Tokyo, acquires global leader VLC Photonics S.L., Valencia, Spain, adding photonic integration engineering, design, and test to its portfolio of services. As Hitachi High-Tech’s subsidiary company, VLC will continue to provide Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) engineering services as part of its broader offerings.
PICs are devices in which optical functions are integrated into wafer materials such as silicon, indium phosphide, and silicon nitride. They have immediate applications in transceivers for optical communications.
Internet traffic has continued to increase due to 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.
As demand gets stronger, the market has also had to manage issues of power consumption, size and cost reduction, and manufacturing scalability. Photonic integration provides a means to address all of these requirements in a more holistic way than the traditional approach of assembling optical systems from discrete parts.
As the foremost independent provider of PIC design, test and engineering services, VLC is in an excellent position to help Hitachi High-Tech serve its existing customers’ new requirements and provide a base for developing new services.
Besides the optical communications market, PICs are also becoming a critical technology for many industrial sectors such as automotive sensing, environmental testing, health sciences, and quantum technology.
For more information:
Hitachi High-Tech Corporation
https://www.hitachi-hightech.com/global/
VLC Photonics S.L.
http://www.vlcphotonics.com/
