Ephos: the first startup to be awarded an EU Chips Act grant
When the EU Chips Act was announced, it was framed as Europe’s answer to a semiconductor future not beholden to foreign powers. Billions were promised, but few imagined that one of the first beneficiaries would be a little-known startup out of Milan betting on glass instead of silicon. That company is Ephos , and their bold wager is about to go industrial.
In July 2025, Ephos secured €41.5 million in public funding—making it the first startup to be directly supported by the EU Chips Act. The funds will be used to build Fab-2 , the world’s first factory dedicated entirely to glass-based photonic chips. Located in Italy, the €104.9 million facility represents more than a scale-up: it's a shift in how Europe wants to build its digital backbone.
Why glass? Traditional photonic chips rely on silicon, but Ephos believes glass substrates offer lower signal loss, faster switching speeds, and better thermal and structural stability. In a world racing toward generative AI, quantum computing, and high-performance systems, every millisecond and watt counts. Glass, they argue, can make the difference.
Ephos launched Fab-1 , its pilot and R&D facility, just ten months ago in Milan. It was a quiet entrance. But with Fab-2, the company is stepping into the big leagues—not just as a manufacturing innovator, but as a symbol of Europe’s push for sovereignty in critical tech infrastructure.
This isn’t just a chip factory. It’s a statement: that the EU Chips Act isn’t only about bolstering giants like STMicroelectronics or ASML—it’s also about backing new players with radical ideas. And Ephos, with its glass-fueled vision, is now at the frontier of that promise.
Source:
A.M.
