Former BelGaN site to become Europe's first 'full-fledged photonic chip centre'
A Belgian–European entrepreneur is set to establish a state-of-the-art photonic chip hub in Flanders, marking a long-awaited investment of more than 200 million euros at the former BelGaN site in Oudenaarde. The initiative is expected to create around 500 jobs and could put Europe on the map in a technology crucial for the future of AI and data centres.
BelGaN, Belgium's last chip manufacturer, went bankrupt last year. Around 440 people lost their jobs and the machines were liquidated. However, the enormous cleanrooms at the site in Oudenaarde were bought by an unknown party.
That party turns out to be Thema Foundries, as was confirmed to Belga on Thursday. The company wants to convert the factory into Europe's first "full-fledged production and service centre for integrated photonics" with an investment of more than 200 million euros, creating around 500 jobs in the region.
Energy efficiency
BelGaN was considered a pioneer in power chips based on gallium nitride (GaN). Photonic chips use light particles - photons - instead of electrons to transport and process information, resulting in much faster and more energy-efficient chips.
These properties are particularly relevant for data centres and applications in artificial intelligence, two sectors that are facing an explosive increase in energy consumption.
"The energy requirements of data centres have become a global problem," Thema Foundries says. "Photonic chips can break that pattern."
"Europe is lagging behind industrially ... this initiative could help it catch up"
The factory in East Flanders is being transformed into a state-of-the-art semiconductor factory and service centre, where the production, cutting, packaging and testing of photonic microchips will take place. In addition, research and development activities are being expanded.
"Europe is lagging behind industrially in this technology, but this initiative could help it catch up," photonics expert Roel Baets of Ghent University told Belga. "Data centres and artificial intelligence are huge drivers. Demand is growing exponentially."
Risky investment
The renowned research centre imec is supporting the site's new owners with the business case and licensing technology. But setting up a chip factory is no easy task, warned senior vice president corporate development Gert Bergen.
“A chip factory lives or dies by the extent to which processes are optimally tailored to customers," he said. "Without sufficient scale and turnover, there is no future.”
But the potential upsides are enormous. “If this succeeds, the factory could grow into a billion-dollar company, a so-called unicorn," Bergen adds. "But it's binary: either it succeeds or it doesn't.”
#FlandersNewsService | The BelGaN chip factory in Oudenaarde, March 2025 © BELGA PHOTO ERIC LALMAND
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