Dutch photonic chip foundry providing silicon nitride integrated circuits for telecom, biomedical, space, and LiDAR applications across Europe.
LionIX International is a Dutch photonic integrated circuit (PIC) foundry specializing in silicon nitride waveguide technology, known for their proprietary TriPleX platform. They design and fabricate custom photonic chips for partners across telecom, biomedical sensing, space, and LiDAR applications. Their role in EU projects is consistently as the integrated photonics technology provider — supplying optical components such as beamformers, spectrometers, and on-chip lasers that other consortium members build systems around. They also support Europe's photonics ecosystem through pilot line and innovation hub projects like PIX4LIFE, PIXAPP, and PhotonHub Europe.
Their TriPleX waveguide technology is the core contribution across nearly all projects, explicitly named in HAMLET and 3PEAT, and underpinning PIX4LIFE's pilot line and PIXAPP's packaging line.
Optical beamforming appears in 5G-PHOS, blueSPACE, TERAWAY (terahertz backhaul), SPACEBEAM (SAR), demonstrating repeated deep expertise in this specific photonic function.
InSPECT (spectral tissue sensing), DiaChemo (chemotherapy monitoring), BIOCDx (cancer diagnostics), REAP (photoacoustic cancer imaging), and I-GENE (nanotransducers for gene editing) all use their photonic chips for biomedical applications.
PIX4LIFE (SiN PIC pilot line), PIXAPP (PIC assembly/packaging), ACTPHAST 4.0 and 4R (SME photonics access), and PhotonHub Europe (digital innovation hub) position them as European photonics infrastructure.
OPHELLIA develops erbium-doped on-chip lasers specifically for LiDAR, while REAP uses optical coherence tomography — both pointing toward active on-chip light source development.
POETICS targets terabit co-packaged optical engines and 3PEAT develops optical switching — both addressing datacom/telecom interconnect needs.
In 2015–2018, LionIX focused on establishing their photonic integration platform — projects like InSPECT, TIPS (thermal management of photonics), HAMLET (TriPleX platform development), and PIX4LIFE (pilot line) were about proving the technology and building manufacturing capability. From 2019 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward deploying that platform into high-value application domains: terahertz communications (TERAWAY), space SAR systems (SPACEBEAM), LiDAR (OPHELLIA), and advanced datacenter interconnects (POETICS). The early keywords — assembly, packaging, supply chain, standards — confirm a foundry-building phase, while recent keywords — aerospace, automotive, metrology, optical fabrication — reflect a mature platform being pushed into diverse markets.
LionIX is evolving from a photonics foundry into an application-ready component supplier, with clear momentum toward space, LiDAR, and terahertz — sectors where integrated photonics is becoming critical.
LionIX is exclusively a participant and technology contributor — they have never coordinated an H2020 project, which is consistent with their role as a specialist component supplier rather than a system integrator. With 186 unique consortium partners across 18 countries, they operate as a high-connectivity hub: many different consortia seek them out for their specific photonic chip capabilities. This makes them an easy, experienced partner to work with — they understand consortium dynamics and deliver defined technology components without competing for project leadership.
With 186 unique partners across 18 countries, LionIX has one of the broadest collaboration networks in European integrated photonics. Their partnerships span major photonics research hubs including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK, plus connections into the biomedical and telecom industries.
LionIX is one of very few European SMEs offering commercial access to silicon nitride photonic integrated circuit fabrication via their proprietary TriPleX platform. This positions them as a critical enabling technology provider — unlike research institutes that develop photonics theory, LionIX actually manufactures the chips that turn concepts into working devices. Their involvement in both the pilot line infrastructure (PIX4LIFE, PIXAPP) and the end-application projects means they bridge the gap between photonics research and market-ready products.
