Barcelona, 21 May 2026 — Luxquanta, a leading developer of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) systems for critical infrastructure, participated in PIXEurope Connect — Industry Ecosystem Building Day, held at Torre Glòries in Barcelona. The event marked the official launch of the PIXEurope Pilot Line, a €400 million European initiative to establish sovereign photonic chip manufacturing capacity across Europe.
About PIXEurope
PIXEurope is a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) pilot line funded through the European Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU), a public-private instrument established under the European Chips Act. The initiative is coordinated by ICFO, the Institute of Photonic Sciences, based in Castelldefels, Barcelona, one of Europe’s leading photonics research institutions.
The pilot line is designed to bridge the gap between academic research and industrial-scale photonic chip fabrication, providing European companies, from deep tech startups to large enterprises, with shared access to state-of-the-art design, prototyping, and manufacturing infrastructure located on European soil.
The programme targets full self-sufficiency in the European photonic supply chain by 2030.
The €400 million investment covers fabrication equipment, process development, design tooling, testing infrastructure, and the talent development programmes required to sustain a competitive European photonics industry at scale.
Audience of the entire PIC value chain involved in PIXEurope, including field experts and leading companies such as Luxquanta.
The PIXEurope Connect Event
The official launch event brought together more than 300 field experts, industry representatives, scientists, and institutional leaders at Torre Glòries in Barcelona on 21 May 2026. Among the speakers:
- Óscar López Águeda, Minister for Digital Transformation and Civil Service, Government of Spain
- Núria Montserrat, Minister for Research and Universities, Generalitat de Catalunya
- Carlos Prieto Gómez, Government Delegate in Catalonia
- Jari Kinaret, Executive Director, Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU)
- Werner Steinhögl, Head of Sector, Microelectronics and Photonics Industry Unit, European Commission
- Oriol Romero-Isart, Director, ICFO
In his address, Minister López Águeda stated:
“Those who dare today to imagine the unthinkable could become tomorrow’s pioneers. Our country puts its trust in light to transform our future and our GDP. That is why we believe in this pilot line to achieve self-sufficiency in Spain’s photonic supply chain by 2030.”
Óscar López Águeda talking at PIX Europe Connect in Barcelona
Minister Montserrat described PIXEurope as
“a strategic project conceived and designed from the outset to ensure the generation of knowledge, as well as sovereignty in terms of capacity and technology in integrated photonics, to be developed here in Europe, rather than relying exclusively on regions outside this part of the world.”
Núria Montserrat talking at PIXEurope Connect in Barcelona.
Following the event, ministers López Águeda and Montserrat, accompanied by Government Delegate Carlos Prieto Gómez, visited ICFO’s facilities in Castelldefels, including the Nanofabrication Laboratory (NFL), where photonic chip prototypes are designed and developed, underscoring the institutional commitment to advancing this programme at both national and regional levels.
Strategic Relevance: Photonic Chips and European Technological Sovereignty
Photonic integrated circuits are semiconductor devices that manipulate light rather than electrons to transmit, process, and detect information. Already embedded in data center interconnects, sensing systems, medical diagnostics, and telecommunications infrastructure, photonic chips are increasingly recognized as a foundational technology for next-generation digital and quantum systems.
Europe currently lacks a fully autonomous photonic chip fabrication ecosystem. The majority of advanced PIC manufacturing takes place outside European borders, creating a strategic dependency analogous to — and in certain security-critical applications more acute than the semiconductor supply chain vulnerabilities that have shaped global technology policy in recent years.
PIXEurope directly addresses this gap. By establishing a shared European pilot line with open access for companies across the continent, the initiative creates the conditions for a self-sustaining photonic industry: one capable of supporting commercial, industrial, and defense applications without dependence on external supply chains.
Implications for the Quantum-Safe Communications Sector
Quantum Key Distribution is the most operationally mature application of quantum communication technology. QKD systems distribute cryptographic keys whose security is guaranteed by the laws of quantum physics, making them provably secure against any computational attack, including those enabled by future quantum computers. This makes QKD a critical technology for the long-term protection of sensitive communications in government, financial services, energy, and telecommunications sectors.
The deployment of QKD at infrastructure scale depends directly on photonic chip technology. Key components of QKD hardware, such as single-photon sources, quantum detectors, optical modulators, and the integrated photonic circuits that enable miniaturization and industrialization, are fabricated using photonic chip processes.
The availability of a high-performance, sovereign European photonic manufacturing infrastructure is therefore a direct enabler of scalable, cost-effective QKD deployment across Europe.
PIXEurope accelerates this trajectory in three specific ways:
- Access to fabrication: European QKD manufacturers gain access to state-of-the-art PIC fabrication without dependence on non-European foundries, reducing supply chain risk and enabling faster iteration cycles.
- Cost reduction at scale: Shared pilot line infrastructure lowers the per-unit fabrication cost of photonic components, directly improving the commercial viability of QKD systems for a broader range of enterprise and government customers.
- Standards alignment: A European pilot line enables the photonic components used in QKD systems to be developed and certified in alignment with European regulatory and security standards, a prerequisite for deployment in critical national infrastructure.
Luxquanta’s in the PIXEurope Pilot Line
Luxquanta develops Quantum Key Distribution systems designed for deployment in real operational networks. Our technology integrates quantum-physical security with the operational requirements of enterprise and government networks, providing a hardware-based layer of protection that is resistant to both current and future computational threats, including quantum computing attacks.
As an active participant in the PIXEurope ecosystem, Luxquanta both benefits from and contributes to the programme’s objectives. The photonic chip infrastructure being built through PIXEurope is directly relevant to our hardware development roadmap, enabling access to European fabrication capabilities for the photonic components at the core of our QKD systems.
At the same time, Luxquanta brings quantum systems expertise that informs the requirements photonic chip platforms must meet for quantum communication applications. Our engagement with the PIXEurope ecosystem is designed to ensure that the pilot line’s capabilities evolve in alignment with the needs of the quantum-safe communications sector.
Together with the broader European photonics and quantum ecosystem, we stand to benefit from this shared infrastructure and to shape what it delivers.
About PIXEurope
PIXEurope is a European photonic integrated circuit pilot line coordinated by ICFO (Institute of Photonic Sciences), funded through the Chips Joint Undertaking under the European Chips Act. With a total investment of €400 million, PIXEurope aims to establish a sovereign European photonic chip manufacturing ecosystem by 2030. More information: pixeurope.eu
About Luxquanta
At Luxquanta, we want to secure a brighter future. We believe in a future that is full of possibilities, powered by innovation. The technologies emerging today will solve our greatest challenges, from climate change to disease, reshaping how we live, work, and connect. Yet, these very advancements carry the potential to shatter the digital security foundations we depend on.
For this future to truly flourish, we need a solid foundation: quantum-grade security that keeps pace with the world around it.
At Luxquanta, we see beyond just protection. Security is an enabler. We see a world where advanced security unlocks boundless possibilities, becoming a powerful platform for unprecedented progress. We build the trust that unlocks tomorrow’s potential. We secure a brighter future, so you can build yours without limits.
More information: luxquanta.com