OKI Opens Berlin R&D Center: Week in Brief: 6/6/2025

TOKYO, June 6, 2025 — Information and telecommunication manufacturer, OKI, established the OKI Berlin Lab R&D center in Berlin, Germany. The R&D center will focus on photonics research with European research organizations and photonics clusters, with a focus on Germany.

OKI Berlin Lab Building. Courtesy of OKI.

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Keysight Technologies and Spirent Communications have entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with its review of Keysight’s proposed acquisition of Spirent, pursuant to which Keysight and Spirent have agreed to divest Spirent’s high-speed ethernet, network security, and channel emulation business lines to VIAVI Solutions or another acquirer approved by the DOJ.

QUEBEC CITY, Quebec — The Institut national de la recherche scientifique, an advanced material, nanotechnology, and photonics research organization, partnered with Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI), a high-power laser infrastructure research organization, to advance ultrafast laser science and train the next generation of researchers. Through the collaboration agreement, Ph.D. students will have access to ELI research infrastructure to develop technology using laser systems.

ELI delegation visits INRS’s Research Center. Courtesy of INRS.

FREDERICK, Md. — Thin Film Interconnect (TFI), a semiconductor manufacturer, partnered with semiconductor packaging and electronic materials company Heisler Semiconductor. Aiming to reduce manufacturing costs and accelerate development timelines, the collaboration will provide a complete solution for wafer production, through-silicon via (TSV) deposition, and heterogeneous packaging. The partnership leverages TFI's TSV deposition process and Heisler's expertise in high-yield packaging design and production to support the creation of smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient devices for the advanced electronics market.

MALTA, N.Y. — GlobalFoundries plans to invest $16 billion into its semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging facilities in New York and Vermont. The investment is a response to recent growth in demand for next-generation semiconductors for artificial intelligence, datacenters, and communication infrastructure. GlobalFoundries revealed plans earlier this year to create a $700 million facility, the New York Advanced Packaging and Photonics Center.

LOS ANGELES — Molecular Instruments, a bioimaging company, partnered with 3D light-sheet microscopy company, Alpenglow, to advance 3D RNA imaging in intact biological samples. This collaboration integrates Molecular Instruments’ HCR Gold RNA-FISH assay with Alpenglow’s 3D Hybrid Open-Top Light-Sheet fluorescent microscope to label RNA targets in samples.

GARDNER, Mass. — Precision Optics, an optical instrument manufacturer, plans to move its corporate offices from Gardner, Mass. to Littleton, Mass. By moving the corporate offices, the company will focus its Gardner location on production to handle its growing backlog, which stood at an all-time high at the end of the most recent quarter, the company said. The facility in Littleton, along with a new facility in Maine, also allows the company access to a broader engineer talent pool to execute the company's ongoing product development pipeline.

Bristol Instruments, Inc. - 872 Series LWM 9/25 MR

TOKYO — Fujifilm rebranded its life sciences companies as part of a strategic positioning effort. FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific will become FUJIFILM Biosciences, and FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies will be known as FUJIFILM Biotechnologies. The FUJIFILM Life Sciences Group companies also include FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics, FUJIFILM Wako Pure Chemical Corporation, and FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd.

ORLANDO, Fla — Laser Photonics, an industrial laser manufacturing company, received a notice from NASDAQ for failure to satisfy a continued listing rule or standard. NASDAQ stated it hadn’t received Form 10-Q or 10-K from Laser Photonics. Laser Photonics attributed the filing delays to the acquisition of Control Micro Systems (CMS) in November 2024, in which they received $1 million in bankruptcy proceedings of CMS’s parent company.

LONDON, United Kingdom — The U.K. invested £5 billion ($6.7 billion) towards defense technology. The funding package is £4 billion for autonomous systems and £1 billion for directed energy weapons. A press release from the U.K. government cited the country's desire to lead innovation in NATO under the Strategic Defence Review. The U.K. expects to create a new directed energy weapon this decade and to fit Royal Navy Warships with DragonFire lasers beginning in 2027.
The U.K.’s Direct Energy Weapon, DragonFire Laser. Courtesy of the U.K. Government.

The U.K.’s Direct Energy Weapon, DragonFire Laser. Courtesy of the U.K. Government.

The U.K.’s DragonFire Laser direct energy weapon. Courtesy of the U.K. Government.

OTTAWA, Ontario — Ranovous, a photonics interconnect manufacturer, and Drut Technologies, a photonic data center architecture company, have collaborated with the aim of developing a co-packaged optics solution for AI, machine learning, and high performance computing clusters. Ranovus's ODIN CPO optical interconnect technology will be integrated with Drut’s 2500 series, a photonic fabric interface card to enhance bandwidth, density, and power consumption challenges.

Drut’s 2500 with Ranovus Odin CPO. Courtesy of Drut.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Syntec Optics Holdings, an integrated optics and photonics components manufacturer, received an order of non-compliance from NASDAQ due to outstanding Form 10-Q and 10-K filings. Syntec Optic Holdings has said that it intends to complete and file the Form 10-Q as soon as practicable to regain compliance with the Nasdaq Listing Rule.

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