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Landquart;
Headlines in recent weeks were not to be ignored. "Will the Upper Rhine valley become Photonics Valley? Or: "New chip Factory Planned in the Upper Rhine Valley – up to 500 Jobs" we read. No wonder, as CEDES CEO Beat de Coi has great plans. In the Upper Rhine Valley, somewhere between Domat/Ems and St. Margrethen a production company is to be built to produce optical semiconductors for industrial applications. The company, already named, is ESPROS Photonics Corporation, epc for short. CEDES, a manufacturer of optosensor components, will be a customer of epc.
The planned volume of investment runs to a good 100 million Swiss francs. In an initial phase some 250 jobs are planned. In the final expansion up to 500 jobs will be created.
The project is unique across Europe. For a glance at the world map shows that today chip manufacturers for optical receiver chips are mainly to be found in Asia and the USA.
For Switzerland in particular the project is of great importance. For although Switzerland occupies a leading position in the area of semiconductor technology research and
development, there are practically no chip manufacturers in the country. "For that reason practically no technology transfer can take place between research and industry. With corre-spondingly negative effects on the economy, know-how flows abroad. Switzerland is denying itself important oppor-tunities in international competition," comments Beat de Coi regarding the present situation in Switzerland. epc should help to make up this deficit.
What is certain is that in the near future a lot more will be heard about epc. We will keep you up to date here.
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