The U.S. Department of Commerce signed four separate nonbinding preliminary memoranda of terms under the CHIPS and Science Act to provide up to $105 million in proposed direct funding to Analog Devices, Inc., up to $79 million in proposed direct funding to Coherent, up to $10.3 million in proposed direct funding to Intelligent Epitaxy Technology, Inc., and up to $52.1 million in proposed direct funding to Sumika Semiconductor Materials Texas Inc. Coherent received a previous funding award under the CHIPS and Science Act in April of last year. ENSCHEDE, Netherlands — Photonic chip foundry New Origin has begun construction on a facility to produce high quality silicon nitride photonic chips. The company, which stems from the work of the MESA+ Institute of the University of Twente, plans to produce the first photonic chips by the end of 2026. New Origin has benefited from collaboration with University of Twente Holding, Oost NL, Bronkhorst High-Tech, Demcon, LioniX International, Micronit, and PhotonDelta. (From left) New Origin CEO Twan Korthorst, general manager of Oost NL Wendy de Jong, and Provincial Executive of Overijssel Erwin Hoogland. Courtesy of New Origin. EVRY-COURCOURONNES, France — Fiber Optics Group has acquired IDIL Fibres Optiques, a company specializing in optical fiber systems and optoelectronic subsystems. IDIL develops and manufactures four main product lines: fiber assemblies and components, optoelectronic systems and lasers, spectroscopy, and photonics engineering and services. IDIL Founder and CEO Patrice Le Boudec will serve as IDIL’s general manager and a member of the Fiber Optics Group’s Strategic Committee. ASKER, Norway — Electronics manufacturing services company Kitron has secured a long-term contract for the production and services of advanced optical assemblies tailored for the unmanned aerial vehicle and drone market. The company expects the contract to generate revenues exceeding €30 million ($31.3 million). Production will be carried out at Kitron’s facility in the Czech Republic, leveraging the company’s extensive experience in building complex assemblies. AMESBURY, Mass. — Gigahertz-Optik’s U.S. office has set up an optical radiation calibration laboratory at its facility in Amesbury, Mass. The laboratory allows the location to offer direct on-site recalibrations. Gigahertz-Optik is a manufacturer of UV-VIS-NIR optical radiation measurement instrumentation for specification critical industrial, medical, and research applications. MUNICH — Infineon Technologies has combined its existing sensor and radio frequency businesses into a single business unit. The unit, called SURF (Sensor Units & Radio Frequency), will be part of the company’s Power & Sensor Systems division and include the former Automotive and Multi-market Sense & Control Businesses. ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics has been awarded a $2.25 million grant over three years from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences. The funding establishes the Inertial Fusion Energy Science and Technology Accelerated Research (IFE-STAR) ecosystem, bringing together academia, national laboratories, and the private sector in pursuit of inertial fusion energy. SANTA CLARA, Calif. — ANELLO Photonics, a provider of photonics solutions for navigation in GPS-denied environments, has been awarded a Phase I SBIR contract for the U.S. Navy. During the six month period, ANELLO will demonstrate the capabilities of its optical gyroscope technology and sensor fusion technology for navigation in environments without GPS. RA'ANANA Israel — Fujitsu Optical Components, a supplier of optical components; UfiSpace, a white box switch/router solution provider; and DriveNets, a provider of networking solutions; have completed testing and certification of multiple FOC ZR/ZR+ modules with DriveNets Network Cloud software on UfiSpace white boxes. The combined solution from the companies collapses three communications layers into a single platform and eliminates the need for standalone optical transponders, thereby reducing operators’ hardware footprint and lowering operational overhead, floorspace, and power usage. TORONTO — Quantum technology company Xanadu has built a universal quantum computer consisting of four modular and independent server racks that are photonically interconnected and networked together. The 12-qubit machine, called Aurora, consists of 35 photonic chips and a combined 13 km of fiber optics all operating at room temperature.