Chip Integration Technology Center (CITC), Tegema, Physik Instrumente (PI), and PHIZ announced a photonics assembly consortium called PODIUM (PIC Open Development Infrastructure for Universal Markets). The consortium is funded by PhotonDelta and CITC.

The consortium runs a program in which optical termination technology, assembly, and packaging is developed for a wide range of integrated photonic applications. It aims to reduce barriers to adoption of integrated photonics technology by reducing costs — up to 80% of the total device cost lies in electrical and optical packaging.