A €211m grant — approved under the European Commission's State Aid Framework for R&D and innovation — will fund industrialisation of graphene-based optical interconnects designed to increase bandwidth density, cut latency and slash energy use inside AI accelerators and high-performance compute systems.
Frontier IP (AIM:FIPP), which holds a 9.1% holding in 2D Photonics, said the award will accelerate development and scale-up of the group's graphene photonics technology and underpins a planned pilot manufacturing facility near Milan.
The London-listed investment company called the grant “one of the largest single public investments ever made to an Italian deep‑tech start-up.”
The funding is earmarked to industrialise CamGraPhIC’s Optical I/O platform for deployment in AI accelerators, HPC systems and advanced data centres; build the Milan pilot line to support device qualification and early production runs; and enable transfer to high‑volume foundry processes.
2D Photonics says the project is expected to create over 150 skilled jobs and that the pilot line is scheduled to be operational in 2028. It previously completed a €25m Series A in March 2025 backed by institutional investors including the Nato Innovation Fund, Sony Innovation Fund, Bosch Ventures, CDP Venture Capital, Join Capital and Indaco Ventures.
"The fact that 2DP has managed to attract one of the largest ever public investments into an Italian technology company demonstrates the potential for the company's technology to transform artificial intelligence and other advanced applications. I very much look forward to the next steps in the Company's development," Frontier IP boss Neil Crabb said.
