EU gives green light to Italian state aid for graphene photonic chips

Green light for European Commission to a support from 211 million euros of the Italian State for the development of photonic optical transceivers based on graphene on the part of CamGraPhICan Italian SME active in chip technologies. The aid, approved under EU state aid rules, will be provided in the form of a direct grant and will serve to strengthen an industrial project that will be developed between Pisain Tuscany, and Bergamoin Lombardy, with the involvement of universities and research and technology organizations.

Optical transceivers are components that allow data to be transmitted and received through light, rather than electrons, inside chips. According to Brussels, the replacement of silicon with graphene is set to significantly improve the performance and efficiency of devices, with applications ranging fromautomotive all telecommunicationsuntilaerospace and to defense.

The evaluation of the commission and the incentive effect

The Commission has assessed the measure and concluded that the intervention is necessary, appropriate and proportionate and that it will not lead to undue negative effects on competition and trade in the internal market. Brussels also noted the so-called “incentive effect“, i.e. without public support the beneficiary would not make the investment. The measure also contributes to the Union’s strategic objectives regarding research and development in the sector of chipa sensitive area for European industrial competitiveness.

The history of CamGraPhIC and the investment rounds

CamGraPhIC was founded in 2018 by Andrea Ferrari e Marco Romagnoli with support from Frontier IP. In March 2025 the company raised €25 million in a round led by CDP Venture Capital, Nato Innovation FundSony Innovation Fund and Join Capital, with participation from Bosch Ventures and Indaco Ventures. That investment was intended to strengthen research capacity and initiate a pilot production line scalable and compatible with commercial semiconductor foundries.

Graphene as an alternative to traditional photonics

The industrial bet revolves around the graphene as an alternative to silicon-based integrated photonics. According to the company, the developed devices offer higher bandwidth density, better latency performance and 80% lower energy consumption compared to traditional data center transceivers. The technology aims to respond to growth in data traffic demand and bottlenecks in data processing hardware.artificial intelligence.

Production of new low-power devices

“This investment will help create a production facility of new low-energy devices, which will underpin applications in high-bandwidth communications, data centers and AI hardware,” he explained Andrea Ferrari to AGI. A step that strengthens the profile of a technology born between academic research and business, now a candidate to become one of the Italian and European bets in the race for new generation chips.