
Lightium is a Swiss startup that offers production-grade photonic foundry services using its proprietary Thin-Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN) platform. Their TFLN technology enables ultra-fast, energy-efficient data transmission, addressing limitations in current semiconductor-based transceivers, particularly for AI and data center applications. Lightium's foundry operates on 200mm wafers in a high-volume environment, aiming to reduce time-to-market and industrialization risks for customers. The platform boasts high performance, including modulation speeds over 100 GHz, low-voltage operation, a wide transparency window, and significant non-linearities. The company is currently offering closed beta testing for early access.

Lightium is a Swiss startup that offers production-grade photonic foundry services using its proprietary Thin-Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN) platform. Their TFLN technology enables ultra-fast, energy-efficient data transmission, addressing limitations in current semiconductor-based transceivers, particularly for AI and data center applications. Lightium's foundry operates on 200mm wafers in a high-volume environment, aiming to reduce time-to-market and industrialization risks for customers. The platform boasts high performance, including modulation speeds over 100 GHz, low-voltage operation, a wide transparency window, and significant non-linearities. The company is currently offering closed beta testing for early access.
Business: Production-grade thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonic integrated circuit (PIC) foundry and design services
Manufacturing: 200 mm wafer manufacturing in a high-volume foundry environment
Founding: Founded in 2023; headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland
Funding (disclosed): USD $7M seed announced Sept 2024
Non-dilutive support: CHF 2.67M Innosuisse grant to commercialize the TFLN platform
Founders: Amir Ghadimi, Frédéric Loizeau, Dirk Englund
Scalable, high-performance photonic integrated circuits for data center, telecom/datacom, AI, quantum, and space applications.
2023
Photonics / Semiconductor Manufacturing
CHF 2.67M
Non-dilutive grant to accelerate commercialization and transfer manufacturing to a commercial CMOS fab.
USD $7M
Announced to accelerate commercialization of production-grade TFLN foundry services and expand manufacturing, design, and testing capabilities.
Crunchbase funding-round entry lists Venture Kick as lead/investor; amount obfuscated on the page.
“Investors and supporters disclosed include Vsquared Ventures, Lakestar, and Venture Kick”
| Company |
|---|
Are you passionate about photonics and eager to apply your skills to real-world engineering challenges? Lightium, a fast-growing startup at the forefront of ultra-high-speed photonic integrated circuits (PICs), invites master students or recent graduates in engineering or physics to join us for a 6-month , full-time, paid internship. This is a unique opportunity to actively contribute to developing the next generation of PICs in a vibrant and interdisciplinary startup environment.
Internship Summary
As part of our multidisciplinary R&D team, you will be immersed in developing and characterizing photonic components, circuits, and software tools that support our high-performance thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonic platform. You will have the opportunity to work on state-of-the-art radio frequency (RF) and optical measurement setups, both at die level and wafer level. You will collaborate closely with our design, fabrication, and software teams, gaining holistic insight into the PIC development pipeline - from simulation over hardware to their characterization.
Key Responsibilities
What You’ll Bring
What We Offer
We'd love to hear from you if you're passionate about building new tech from the ground up and thrive in a collaborative and result-driven environment. Lightium is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
Please note that we are unfortunately only allowed to offer this internship to European Union or Swiss nationals or to Third Country Nationals who are enrolled in Swiss universities with internship requirements.