Hitachi High-Tech buys VLC Photonics for PIC expertise

VLC Photonics will operate as a subsidiary that offers photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design, test, and engineering services.

Hitachi High-Tech has purchased VLC Photonics of Valencia, Spain, for an undisclosed sum. VLC Photonics will operate as a subsidiary that offers photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design, test, and engineering services.

The new expertise will complement Hitachi High-Tech’s current provision of components and services to the optical communications industry, the company believes. (VLC Photonics’ services earned a 3.5 rating in the 2019 Lightwave Innovation Reviews.) Thus, the addition of VLC Photonics will better position Hitachi High-Tech to serve the new requirements of present customers as well as providing a foundation for the development of new offerings. Hitachi High-Tech notes that PICs are also becoming increasingly applied in such applications as automotive sensing, environmental testing, health sciences, and quantum technology.

Based in Tokyo, Hitachi High-Tech is active in such areas as analytical and medical (e.g., clinical analyzers, biotechnology products, and analytical instruments), nano-technology (including manufacture and sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and analysis equipment), and industrial, which is where its optical communications activities reside.