EUROPE'S FIRST DEDICATED BACKEND PHOTONICS FOUNDRY
The future of AI runs on photonics. Thema Foundries is Europe's only dedicated backend photonics foundry, built from the ground up to deliver what the industry has been waiting for: production-scale on-chip laser integration & testing.
The Bottleneck Holding AI Back.
The Bottleneck Holding AI Back.
AI data centers are hitting a wall. Moving data between thousands of GPUs at the speeds modern AI demands has outpaced what copper can physically deliver. The solution is light. Silicon photonics transceivers replace copper with optical interconnects, moving data faster, further, and at a fraction of the energy cost.
But there is a catch. Silicon photonics depends on integrating lasers, modulators, and electronics that are not native to silicon. Scaling this integration with the required precision and yield remains a major bottleneck.
Until now...
Solving What Others Couldn't
Solving What Others Couldn't
✕ LASER SOURCE: EXTERNAL
✕ TIME TO MARKET: 18-24 MONTHS
✕ YIELD: <30%
✕ PACKAGING: BULKY
✕ LASER SOURCE: EXTERNAL
✕ TIME TO MARKET: 18-24 MONTHS
✕ YIELD: <30%
✕ PACKAGING: BULKY
✓ LASER SOURCE: ON-CHIP
✓ TIME TO MARKET: ACCELERATED
✓ YIELD: PRODUCTION GRADE
✓ PACKAGING: HERMETIC
✓ LASER SOURCE: ON-CHIP
✓ TIME TO MARKET: ACCELERATED
✓ YIELD: PRODUCTION GRADE
✓ PACKAGING: HERMETIC
Thema Foundries makes photonics manufacturable at scale through yield-driven integration, wafer-level testing, and BEOL processing - so our customers can deliver reliable, high-performance components at the scale required by Al and data center systems.
About us
About us
Thema Foundries is a dedicated integrated photonics foundry located in Oudenaarde, Flanders, Belgium. Situated near world-class research institutes like imec, UGent, and TU Eindhoven, Thema is deeply integrated within the Flanders photonics ecosystem, alongside key players such as Luceda Photonics, Sentea, One Touch technologies and many others.
Building on a strong history, Thema Foundries utilises nearly 40 years of continuous semiconductor fabrication expertise, starting from the site’s establishment as Mietec in 1983 and continuing through operations under OnSemi.
This provides access to decades of practical manufacturing knowledge and a highly skilled leadership and workforce experienced in running profitable, high-volume FAB operations, product development for Telecom, automotive and full-fledged testing.
Recently established through the acquisition of these existing facilities, Thema Foundries is founded by a strong combination of high-tech investors and recognized experts with deep experience in the design and production of high-volume photonic components, specifically focusing on demanding applications like transceivers for AI, data center, and telecommunications markets.
What We Do
What We Do
Yield driven Integration
Yield driven Integration
Test and Validation
Incubation and Scale-Up
PROTOTYPE → PILOT → PRODUCTION
MOCVD EPITAXY • HIGH-RESOLUTION LITHOGRAPHY • DFB · EML · SOA · PD
ON-CHIP INTEGRATION • III–V ON SILICON • ZERO FULL-WAFER BONDING
FULL OPTICAL + ELECTRICAL • EVERY DEVICE • PRODUCTION GRADE ONLY
PROTOTYPE TO PRODUCTION • FULL INFRASTRUCTURE ACCESS • EXPERT GUIDANCE
By the numbers
By the numbers
Precision, scale, and consistency across every stage.
7,000m²
of cleanroom space for precise manufacturing
43,888m²
total facility area supporting operations
40+
years of experience in semiconductor fabrication
>98%
yield rate for reliable production
The Future, In Production
The Future, In Production
Partner with [Europe's first pure-play photonics foundry], Whether you are a fabless design house looking for a production partner or an investor looking to understand the opportunity, we would love to talk.
