Huawei buys silicon photonics startup Caliopa

Following the lead of Cisco’s acquisition of LightWire, Huawei has purchased silicon photonics startup Caliopa from investors Baekeland, Fidimec, Ghent University, PMV, and other individual shareholders. The deal closed August 6; Huawei did not announce terms.

Huawei will integrate Caliopa into its existing R&D center in Belgium – not a difficult thing to do given that Caliopa was based in Ghent. The Chinese communications systems vendor says the deal follows its strategy to enhance its European research and development capabilities, particularly silicon photonics-based optical devices.

Caliopa spun out of the Photonics Research Group of imec and Ghent University in 2009 and will continue to partner with imec and the university, Huawei says. It specializes in silicon photonics-based optical transceivers for the data and telecommunications markets, although it has yet to release a product. The company launched with 2 million euros of initial funding from Baekeland, Fidimec, PMV-Vinnof, an unidentified private investor, and the founders. The company announced a further 1.3 million euros in investment from its current investors in April 2012.

For more information on optical transceivers and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.