(Editor’s note: This special Thursday version of our Tech Tuesday series is dedicated to High Tech Campus Eindhoven. Our regular version returns next week. Dispatches covers tech because so many of our highly skilled internationals are founders, CEOs, engineers and entrepreneurs.)
On one level, the big High Tech NEXT business conference Wednesday was about unveiling the general plan for expanding and updating High Tech Campus Eindhoven through the next decade. On another level, what went unsaid was the real story … how Campus officials are positioning HTCE for the biggest prize of the decade – a photonics fabrication plant for research.
As the keynote address, Paul van Son, Campus director of strategy, talked about two new tech buildings – one on the north side of campus, one on the south – to be built in parallel starting in mid-2025. Companies can use them for whatever they need, including labs and clean rooms, van Son told Dispatches.
Mid-2025 also happens to be the date construction will theoretically start on two fabs in the Netherlands funded by the PIXEurope consortium, which consists of public and private entities from 11 countries, including the Netherlands, selected for contract negotiations to develop a European pilot plant for advanced photonic chips.
Photonic integrated chips combine conventional chips with electronic circuits and technology that use light to transmit data. PICs run cooler and faster and require less energy … crucial as AI drives up the demand for power at data centers across the globe.
Eindhoven would focus on indium phosphide-based photonic chips, one of two fabs dubbed as New Origin chip foundries, according to media reports.
But first, the details from yesterday’s event at the Campus Conference Center:
• Van Son said on the south side of campus, there’s 100,000 square meters (about 1 million square feet) to be developed over the next years. The plan is, at the same time, to transform the landscape into “a more forest-like environment.” And, he added, “the sheep will stay.” The Campus uses sheep rather than machinery to cut grass all year. Over 10 years, there will be a mix of technical facilities and adjoining office space.
• Construction starts with two new buildings, 17, 500 meters square or about 180,000 square feet. These spec buildings are in anticipation of demand for high-quality space for R&D operations in Brainport, the designated development district that includes Eindhoven.
• This is not an insignificant investment since it costs about 400 euros per square meter to build a basic facility, or a minimum of 7 million euros.
• The Strip, the social hub in the center of Campus, will get more outdoor workout space, including a cross fit and sports facilities.
• HTC 11 will be dedicated to test materials with Smart BioMaterials Consortium’s pilot factory of four cleanroom, a total of 400 square meters. According to their website, the pilot factory will become the first shared use production facility for biomaterials for regenerative medicine in Europe.
• HTC 91, or Lucis One, debuted with a party on the 10th floor of what is now the tallest building on campus and the priciest office space in Eindhoven. The glass and steel high-rise already has a number of tenants, including Molex, Infoland, and V.O. Patents and Trademarks.
All this is about positioning the Campus for future demand, whatever form that takes. The campus is co-owned in a strategic partnership between GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, and LA-based asset manager Oaktree Capital Management. GIC is the largest shareholder.
“We have listened carefully to the needs of companies on Campus and beyond,” says Otto van den Boogaard, CEO of High Tech Campus Eindhoven. “That’s why we take the responsibility to invest in the Campus, so that companies that commit to the Brainport region are optimally facilitated in their growth.”
That could include a new low-volume pilot plant project funded by photonixFAB, dedicated to figuring out how to mass-produce photonic chips. The photonixFAB consortium is made up of major public and private enterprises as well as European research institutes and universities – all focusing on the development and production of next-gen silicon/photonics.
The Dutch government has earmarked 133 million euros of about 380 million from the EU to build pilot factories tentatively in Eindhoven and Enschede. Conventional chip fabs cost at least 1 billion – and in some cases, much more – to construct though a low-volume research foundry would cost far less. Campus officials are hinting broadly that it could be built at HTCE as Europe struggles to build a photonics supply train and stay competitive with the United States and China.
Eindhoven has a big advantage in that SMART Photonics, based at High Tech Campus, already is a major player, and the campus has sufficient space.
The day-long High Tech NEXT included a panel, “What’s Next,” with Clara Otoro Perez from NXP, Derye Eker from Synopsys and Ton van Mol from Holst Center, followed by a presentation by futurist Christian Kromme. Way too much to cover in one post, so we’ll have more next week.
The conference center also hosted displays by 27 campus companies including SMART Photonics and recent arrival E Ink Technologies, based in Taiwan, with more than 200 people trekking out in a surprise snow storm to attend High Tech NEXT.
Co-CEO of Dispatches Europe. A former military reporter, I'm a serial expat who has lived in France, Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands.
