CCRAFT will expand its in-house design and manufacturing of photonic chips with a CHF 2.5 million project funded by Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency. The funding will specifically advance the company’s thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) platform, designed to support data transmission rates of 1.6 Tbit/s while consuming less than 1 pJ/bit, a critical advancement for increasingly power-intensive AI data centers. Currently, no industrial-grade foundry can produce TFLN chips at the scale demanded by hyperscale data centers, a gap CCRAFT, developed within the facilities of the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), aims to fill. “This support from Innosuisse reinforces our mission to turn Swiss innovation into global industrial leadership,” said Hamed Sattari, CEO of CCRAFT, noting the company already delivers chips at industrial scale and is advancing toward multi-million-chip annual capacity.
CCRAFT Secures Funding for TFLN Photonic Chip Manufacturing
CCRAFT is addressing a critical bottleneck in the advancement of artificial intelligence by securing CHF 2.5 million in funding from Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency, to expand its capacity for manufacturing thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonic chips. As global data traffic surges, driven by the AI revolution, existing photonic interconnect technologies are nearing their performance limits, necessitating a new material platform to sustain growth. TFLN has emerged as a promising solution, capable of supporting data modules exceeding 1. Unlike competitors adapting existing CMOS fabrication facilities, CCRAFT already operates an industrial manufacturing line capable of meeting growing global demand, building on over six years of research and development. The Innosuisse project will focus on expanding CCRAFT’s component library and enhancing process reliability to meet the stringent qualification standards of large-scale customers.
This investment focuses on scaling Swiss innovation into a global industrial force. CCRAFT anticipates releasing its datacom Process Design Kit (PDK) in 2026 and qualifying high-volume production workflows by 2027, establishing a reliable European manufacturing base for large-scale TFLN photonic chip production.
Operating on a 150 mm manufacturing line within CSEM’s facility, we already deliver chips to customers at industrial scale and are advancing toward multi-million-chip annual capacity.
The demand for data transmission capacity is escalating rapidly, driven by artificial intelligence and increasingly straining existing photonic interconnect technologies. CCRAFT is responding by directly addressing a critical bottleneck in the supply chain, the lack of industrial-scale manufacturing for thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonic chips. This strategic positioning allows the company to move beyond research and development, focusing on bolstering in-house design and manufacturing capabilities with a recently secured CHF 2.5 million project from Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency. The company anticipates a transition to 200 mm wafers to further increase throughput and efficiency, aiming for multi-million-chip annual capacity. By focusing on industrial-grade production, CCRAFT is uniquely positioned to translate laboratory innovation into commercially viable solutions for the next generation of data centers.
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