Photonics
Critical node· Photonics · Critical anchor

IQE, Cardiff / Newport

Cardiff, United Kingdom51.48°N 3.18°W
computed criticality42/100
reading
World leader in outsourced VCSEL epitaxy
2024
Fault line

IQE has dominated GaAs epitaxy for VCSELs for years and delivered the first commercial 200 mm VCSEL epiwafer. The company remains financially fragile and modest in size relative to its criticality: much of the world's 3D sensing and short-reach datacom rests on a handful of Welsh MOCVD reactors.

Actors
IQE plc (Cardiff)
Newport foundry (Newport)
Depends on 3
Gallium refining, ShandongPhotonics · LinkAXT / Beijing Tongmei, BeijingPhotonics · LinkFreiberger Compound Materials, FreibergPhotonics · Link
Feeds 2
Lumentum, San JoséPhotonicsCoherent, Sherman, TexasPhotonics
Shocks endured
Beijing puts gallium and germanium under licenseAug 1, 2023
Sources