Leaders from eight of Europe’s largest integrated photonics companies have presented plans to the European Commission to build a resilient European supply chain for photonic integrated circuits (PICs). The plan, presented to Thomas Skordas, deputy director-general, DG Connect; Lucilla Sioli, director for artificial Intelligence and digital industry, DG Connect; and Werner Steinhögl, head of sector, Unit for Microelectronics and Photonics for the European Commission, calls for €4.25 billion ($4.62 billion) in funding over eight years and provides a range of recommendations to enable the European integrated photonics industry to autonomously supply European Union (EU) customers, as well as to become a global leader in the market. Johan Feenstra, CEO of SMART Photonics (left) was among a group of eight CEOs who presented a plan to Thomas Skordas, deputy director-general, DG Connect (center); Lucilla Sioli, director for artificial intelligence and digital industry, DG Connect (right); and Werner Steinhögl, head of sector, Unit for Microelectronics and Photonics for the European Commission. Courtesy of SMART Photonics. The group, composed of Rudi de Winter, CEO of XFAB; Johan Feenstra, CEO of SMART Photonics; Felix Grawert, CEO of Aixtron; Albert Hasper, CEO of PHIX Photonics Assembly; Inigo Artundo, CEO of VLC Photonics; Jean-Louis Gentner, CEO of Almae; Thomas Hessler, CEO of Ligentec; and Ewit Roos, CEO of PhotonDelta, stated that the low level of EU manufacturing capacity and overreliance on Asia threatens the EU’s economic security and resilience. The plan recommends that the EU provide €2 billion in incentives for industrial-scale InP and SiN PIC manufacturing capacity in Europe; access for EU PIC small- and medium-size enterprises to industrial PIC test and experimentation facilities (TEFs); establish an industrial PIC manufacturing supply chain resilience fund of €200 million to support the investments needed to strengthen linkages and minimize vulnerabilities; provide a €360 million fund to stimulate application development through offering design tape-outs, leading to industrial photonic design IP creation and validation based on hardware testing; and to promote and incentivize collaboration among vertical clusters and the European PIC ecosystem. Currently, less than 6% of the manufacturing of InP and SiB PICs is done in the EU and less than 4% of global assembly, testing, and packaging capacity resides in Europe. Further, research by Dutch photonics ecosystem PhotonDelta highlights that competitor nations are making concerted efforts to acquire EU PIC technologies and assets along with seeking stakes in EU small- and medium-enterprise (SME) companies in the EU PIC supply chain.