On Monday, March 9, 2026, TNO, High Tech Campus Eindhoven and partners launched a new era for European tech: The start of the construction of the 6 Inch Pilot Line. We gladly share the text of the press release CLOSER partner SMART Photonics.

“We are building Europe’s first industrial-scale facility for Indium Phosphide photonic chips at a 6-inch wafer scale. With an investment of €150 million, it’s the critical lab-to-fab link Europe has been waiting for to bridge the gap between world-class innovation and scalable manufacturing. As a European leader in InP technology, SMART Photonics is, next to others, an important end user of the pilot line and as such can help accelerate industrial adoption and strengthen the Dutch photonics manufacturing base. SMART Photonics supports the pilot line with its proven expertise in Indium Phosphide (InP) technology to accelerate the development of processes for 6-inch wafer production by sharing skills and knowledge. In addition, the company serves as a training provider, helping to build the skills and knowledge needed across the ecosystem.
CEO SMART Photonics Johan Feenstra: ‘We are thrilled to engage in this much-needed ecosystem initiative, which will strengthen our ability to serve our customers in all markets even better. By scaling up together, we ensure this collaboration strengthens our leading position in the Netherlands and across Europe.

 

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CLOSER stands for Circular raw materials for European open strategic autonomy on chips and microelectronics production, and is an I3 project, co-funded by the European Commission, that aims to establish a European closed loop for semiconductors, organising the ecosystem for Critical Raw Materials from e-waste, back into sustainable chips and microelectronics. 32 partners from 8 European countries act together in building and scale up a European circular supply chain for semiconductors.
The project is a cross-regional, joint investment and has a portfolio of 14 pilot investments (TRL 7-9). Each of these pilots has an individual business model and each of these investments contributes to the holistic scale-up of the EU supply chain for circular chips. This benefits both EU-level and the local level in the participation regions.