AIM Photonics receives $321 million in funding

The American Institute of Manufacturing (AIM) Photonics has secured a seven-year cooperative agreement with the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Research Foundation of the State University of New York, which includes funding of more than $321 million, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Monday.

The funding includes $165 million awarded by AFRL on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense and $156 million from other sources, including more than $60 million previously awarded from New York state as part of a $250 million commitment to establish the institute, contributions from participating companies, colleges and universities, and other state governments. The funds will be used to help ensure the manufacturing readiness of advanced photonics, a technology that is essential to national security and critical to the future of high-performance microelectronics, officials explained.

“As New York continues to rebuild our economy, we remain focused on growing the new and emerging technology sectors that will be the economic engines of the future,” Hochul said. “Under my administration, New York will always do everything possible to support our brightest minds as they push the boundaries of what is possible and with this funding in hand, we are now better able to ensure New York and the nation will remain at the forefront in the world of technological innovation, research and development.”

Headquartered at the Albany Nanotech Complex, AIM Photonics will continue its work to develop advanced integrated photonics capabilities for a variety of existing products and will enable critical applications such as data communications, telecommunications, light detection and ranging (LiDAR), chemical and biological sensing, artificial intelligence, quantum applications and custom DoD applications.

AIM Photonics has been nationally recognized for creating the world’s first open-access complete silicon photonic manufacturing ecosystem that supports current and future photonics technologies. AIM’s ecosystem provides the photonics industry, the academic research community and the DoD access to a full suite of design tools, advanced wafer fabrication, testing and chip packaging technologies throughout the entire product development cycle. The work is conducted at the Test, Assembly and Packaging (TAP) facility in Rochester and at the Albany Nanotech Complex, which is owned and operated by NY CREATES and is recognized as the most advanced, publicly owned semiconductor R&D site in the nation.

“We are uniquely positioned to provide a proven, advanced manufacturing environment that is vital for the evolution of integrated photonics,” said Tod Laursen, acting president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute and chairman of the AIM Photonics Leadership Council. “Our goal is to continue to increase industry, academic and government participation in the commercialization of this critical technology by providing unparalleled access to the advanced infrastructure needed to support the full development cycle of both current and future integrated photonic applications.”

[email protected] / 585-653-4021
Follow Velvet Spicer on Twitter: @Velvet_Spicer