The cabinet is advancing a €53.8 million contribution to the National Growth Fund project PhotonDelta, which will further put the Netherlands on the map as a leading player in the global chip industry. Photonic chips will make it possible to use light instead of electrons to build smaller, faster and energy-efficient devices.
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Following a positive opinion from the National Growth Fund advisory committee, this contribution from the 2nd phase of PhotonDelta’s funding is now being granted earlier and final.
This investment is needed for Dutch participation in the European consortium PIXEurope with which contract talks have started to create a pilot production line for integrated photonics. Parts of this pilot plant are envisaged in both Eindhoven and Enschede. If the international negotiations for this participation succeed, the government itself, with the approval of the European Union, intends to publicly invest €66.3 million in this. In total, there is an intended investment in PIXEurope from 11 countries and the European Commission of €380 million. €133 million of the total amount for this pilot production line is expected to be invested within the Netherlands.
Key to sustainable technological innovation
PhotonDelta focuses on the development of photonic chips, which enable applications such as rapid disease diagnostics, safe self-driving vehicles and more efficient food production. Photonics allows devices to be developed smaller, faster and more energy efficient. The PhotonDelta programme, which now involves hundreds of startups, researchers and manufacturers, aims to give the Netherlands a leading role in the global photonics market.
Additional investment and European cooperation
The €53.8 million now finally awarded is a crucial part of the Dutch participation in PIXEurope, a European consortium setting up a pilot production line for integrated photonics. Upon successful completion of the international negotiations surrounding this participation, a €66.3 million investment by the European Union in the Netherlands is expected. This contribution will require national co-financing, with an additional €12.5 million coming from regular resources of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in addition to the Growth Fund investment. With these steps, the Netherlands can significantly strengthen its photonics value chain and further expand its position in the European leading group.
The cabinet has adopted the advice of the National Growth Fund Advisory Committee. Through this new allocation, the total final investment amount for PhotonDelta is now € 320.4 million, with a remaining conditional allocation of € 150.8 million. The budgetary processing of this investment will take place at the Spring Memorandum 2025, after which consent of the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament will finally release the funds.
