Finetech

Not choosing is a decision, too. That was my answer to the opening question of Thursday's CEO panel at the Global Photonics Economic Forum in Málaga: which decision did you make this year that you wouldn't have made two years ago? Two years ago, I would have thought I had to choose between this panel and my family. This year, I brought my one-year-old daughter to Málaga and did both. I don't usually get nervous before panels. This time I did. Eight CEOs on one stage, some of the biggest names in our industry and 45 minutes on the next five years of photonics. The broader economy isn't exactly booming right now. Photonics, however, feels like a different story. On that stage, everyone was talking about growth, scaling and how fast we can get from the lab to volume production. At Finetech, we hear that question every day. We build high-precision micro-assembly equipment, and we supply many of the companies on that stage. Some of our customers were sitting right there in the room. Almost every conversation we have right now starts with: "Are you ready to scale with us?" My answer: of course. But scaling only works if we plan it together. What is already giving me grey hair is that I’m having a lot of conversations about scaling right now, but seeing very few firm commitments. If everyone waits and then wants to ramp up at the same time, at short notice, that is exactly how bottlenecks are created. We need to know early what our customers will need, when and in what volume, so we can have the machines ready when production ramps up. The bottleneck doesn’t start on the shop floor. It starts months earlier, in the planning. Then came an interesting twist. Stefan Traeger, who moderated the panel, asked whether growth this fast needs a different kind of leadership and different skills and he put that question to me. Probably because my setup is a bit unusual: I come from a family business and all four of us siblings run a company of our own. We are all fairly young, and we talk constantly. We compare notes, challenge each other and share what works. That exchange is a big part of how we lead. Which brings me back to not choosing. We don't choose between the AI fast track and the rest of photonics either. AI is additional business, not a replacement, and the automation we develop under that pressure makes our machines better for industrial, medical, sensing and quantum customers as well. The next generation of photonics already works in the lab. Now we have to build the capacity to produce it at scale. So my ask is simple: share your roadmap, your timing and your commitments with us. And share them early. The earlier we know where you’re heading, the better we can prepare and make sure the machines are ready when the ramp is. Scaling works when we plan it together. Thank you to Optica, Stefan and my fellow panelists. What a group to share a stage with. A pretty good room to be nervous in. And a pretty good pink suit to be nervous in, too.

Heterogeneous PIC integration on Si/SiN, InP and LiNbO₃. Cryogenic SNSPD bonding. Indium bump interconnects. Built for photonic quantum processors.

Scaling quantum photonics? Alignment errors, drift, and packaging losses are holding you back.

Over 30+ years packaging VCSELs, optical transceivers and high-power diodes. Now bringing that proven photonic know-how to your quantum hardware roadmap.

The bottleneck in scalable quantum photonics is rarely the physics. It's the packaging. Sub-micron die bonding is now the foundation, not an option.

Single-photon source. Micro-optics. PIC. Detector. Every interface in your optical path is a chance to lose photons. We make sure you don't.