Enablence Technologies (TSXV: ENA) a provider of optical chips for datacom, telecom, automotive and industrial automation applications and Polar Semiconductor, a U.S. manufacturer of high-performance, analog and power semiconductor devices and sensors have announced a strategic partnership to develop and manufacture optical semiconductors used by world-leading transceiver companies.
As part of its strategic growth plan, Enablence has recently ramped up product development efforts releasing new families of Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM), and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) optical devices to the market. At the same time, the company has made significant investments in critical tool sets, including etching, lithography and deposition process technologies designed to ramp up production of its planar lightwave circuits (PLCs) to meet demand. Planar lightwave circuit technology (PLCs) provides a higher volume of optical integration in a smaller footprint, offering a lower cost, lower power, high-capacity advantages for systems using wavelength-division multiplexing. With many new products in the development pipeline designed to address datacom, telecom, LiDAR, and industrial automation growth opportunities, the collaboration with Polar Semiconductor provides Enablence access to high quality, leading-edge tool sets, proven production processes and capacity to meet new demand. For Polar semiconductor, this partnership provides it with an opportunity to expand its footprint within the optoelectronics market which is projected to grow substantially over the next several years.
“This partnership strengthens Polar Semiconductor’s expansion into optoelectronics manufacturing, something we see as a strategic growth segment,” commented Rajesh Appat, vice president of technology development, Polar Semiconductor. “Our primary goal is to work closely with Enablence Technologies to help deliver best-in-class, quality optoelectronics products to the market by applying our 60 plus years of proven expertise in technology and process development.”
“This partnership provides synergistic growth opportunities for both companies,” noted Todd Haugen, CEO, Enablence. “It strengthens our production capabilities, provides us with new capacity, and immediately brings online critical etching, deposition and lithography processes which will help accelerate the development and release of our advanced, new optical products to the market.”