People behind the PICs | The Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC) industry is booming. Companies in the field are growing steadily, start-ups with innovative solutions are popping up regularly, and the search for technical staff seems never-ending. In this interview series, we are curious to get to know the people behind the PICs. Who are the energy forces driving this technological revolution, and what motivates them? What can future photonics engineers expect from a career in this field?
Iñigo Artundo is originally from Pamplona, Spain. He pursued his master’s degree in Telecommunications in his hometown, at the Universidad Pública de Navarra. Then, at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, he finished his master thesis under the supervision of Hugo Thienpont and Christoff Debaes. The topic and environment were so captivating to him that he decided to stay for four more years to do a PhD in optical interconnects. And subsequently a Postdoc. Today, Iñigo has been the CEO of VLC Photonics for more than ten years.
Iñigo Artundo, CEO of VLC Photonics. Photography by VLC Photonics.
Shortly after your Postdoc, you became the CEO of VLC Photonics. What made you decide to switch from an academic position to a more commercial role?
“After finishing my PhD back in 2009, I had a strong desire to apply research to real-world scenarios, solve practical problems, and have a more immediate impact. Hence, after a short Postdoc, I had the opportunity to join VLC Photonics as its first employee! This was in a business development role, shortly afterwards I became the CEO. Being closer to the commercial side helps you understand the clients’ actual pain points and the real market needs, which are key drivers for any successful business. And besides I like the challenge of jointly facing problems with our customers as a team. Helping them out to achieve their goals and sharing in their successes later on is very rewarding. Building long term relationships is vital for this.”
What did you enjoy most about the process of (co-)founding a photonics company? What was the least enjoyable?
“Having full freedom in how to set up the company and its growth has been very rewarding. But at the same time it is demanding and scary, as there are many responsibilities to deal with. The life of any start-up comes with ups and downs. In the long run, the learnings I took out of both our successes and mistakes have been the most valuable thing for me. Looking back on the last ten years, I’m very proud of having helped a lot of customers, many of whom I now consider friends, through the services we offer. And to have contributed significantly to the emergence of PIC technology in Spain and the strong PIC ecosystem in Europe.”
What are the main activities you focus on in your current role?
“As the company has grown to 30 people now, my role has evolved from a sales and business development oriented position to a more managerial position. I try to take care of our team as much as possible. I coordinate and support the different technical and non-technical departments and make sure our corporate strategy is aligned with that of the Innovative Photonics Solutions department at our parent company Hitachi High-Tech.”
What is something you are working on right now that really excites you?
“We are now gearing up to scale up our test operations, by moving to a new building and expanding our cleanroom to accommodate more tools for die and wafer characterization and reliability testing. As our customers move from R&D and prototyping into engineering and pilot production, so do we. It is an ongoing effort to support them at all stages and keep up with the market needs, offering state-of-the-art instrumentation and equipment. After thirteen years at our current facilities, we are now moving into a much larger facility at the technology campus, still in Valencia. It is an exciting and motivating step for all of us at VLC Photonics.
Another thing I look forward to is our collaboration with Hitachi for the application of PIC technology to their multiple businesses and products. The potential is huge, and we are working hard to make it happen.”
Iñigo Artundo, CEO at VLC Photonics. Photography by VLC Photonics.
Is there somebody in the PIC industry that inspires you? And why?
“As my start in the PIC industry was in an academic environment in the Benelux region, I have always admired the main historical researchers in the photonics field in this area: Roel Baets and Meint Smit. And there are many other researchers that I find inspiring and have been lucky to work with, but I will just mention Pascual Muñoz and Jose Capmany. They really grew the field to what it is today in Spain, and ignited the emergence of the national PIC industry with their entrepreneurial vision.
On the industry side, I have great admiration for all the management teams of small PIC start-ups, many of whom I have had the chance to work closely with as customers or suppliers. Sharing their joys and troubles from an equivalent position has created strong bonds over the years, as we have all grown and transformed our companies into what they are now. I admire the most those leaders with whom I share common values, like integrity, team spirit and boldness.”
Which (business) opportunities do you currently see in the PIC industry?
“As a company offering design and test services for PICs to many customers over the last thirteen years, we are well-positioned to identify the growing demands across industries. I believe it is a must for a service-provider to continuously monitor the technology trends and be exposed to all emerging tools and platforms, as it enables you to serve customers in the best way.
We have observed that, with the increasing complexity of PICs, many companies lack the in-house technology knowhow or engineering experience needed for efficient and high-performance design. Offering end-to-end design services, from prototype conceptualization to product-ready, can help clients accelerate their time-to-market. The design IP licensing model is also slowly emerging, and while not as established as in electronics, it will surely play a role in the upcoming years. Testing services are equally critical, ensuring PICs meet strict performance and reliability standards. As PICs become more intricate, the demand for sophisticated testing methodologies grows, particularly in cutting-edge fields like high-speed datacom, complex computing and high-performance LiDAR. Being able to bridge the gap between lab level testing of a few chips or wafers, and large-volume OSAT operations is something we are tapping into at VLC Photonics. We are introducing fully automated opto-electronic PIC testing at die and wafer level (allowing for both vertical and edge optical coupling) with RF measurement capabilities up to 110 GHz and bit error (BER) with eye diagrams for 56 Gbaud devices. Reliability testing is an important area of growth for us too, considering how critical this is for photonics. Additionally, as the cost of packaging is still high, it justifies the need for electrical stress and thermal testing (lifetime, burn-in) during the development and qualification phases.”
In which application areas do you think PICs have the most potential?
“The PIC industry is rapidly evolving, offering several opportunities across multiple sectors. In telecommunications and data centers, PICs are in demand for enabling high-speed optical interconnects, particularly as AI and mobile networks expand. The growing focus on energy efficiency in data centers also creates opportunities for PICs to reduce power consumption. In secure communications, specialized PICs are needed for Quantum Key Distribution and Quantum Random Number Generation. This is especially true in the fields of defense, aerospace and critical infrastructures (energy, banking, etc.), where PICs are being integrated into secured communication links. The autonomous vehicle industry will soon drive demand for PICs in next-gen FMCW LiDAR systems. Current LiDAR manufacturers and emerging start-ups are racing towards maturing the technology, aiming at the demanding cost and reliability targets that the high volume automotive market requires. While lower in volume, LiDAR also has many industrial applications where such requirements are not that rigorous and time to market can be faster. Healthcare and biosensing are promising areas, with PICs enhancing medical lab-on-a-chip diagnostics, wearables, imaging, and instrumentation like spectrometers and optical coherence tomography. Consumer electronics, particularly in AR/VR, present opportunities for PICs to improve device performance too. At VLC Photonics, we are well equipped to test at UV, visible and mid-IR wavelengths, beyond the standard telecom and datacom bands. Finally, there are also emerging PIC applications in next-generation computing architectures, such as quantum computing. These can become very disruptive in the upcoming years.”
How do you experience the European PIC ecosystem?
“While PIC technology has been researched for many decades and Europe has been leading in the field, sometimes it is disappointing to see that the market is growing at a much quicker rate in countries like the US or China. There, the aim for industrialization and growth is a lot higher, and moreover the environment for venture capital funding is less risk-averse. Public funding in Europe has helped to mature research and facilitate the transition of the technology to SMEs, but maybe a bolder and more timely approach by companies and governments has been missing. I do believe this is changing though. While we may not be able to lead in markets that have traditionally been dominated by the US or Asia, like data center transceivers, I have high hopes that we are still on time to build other strong PIC-based sectors!”
Curious about what job opportunities the photonic integration community has to offer? Check out our career page.