Bergamo

Bergamo was named in April 2026 as one of two Italian cities to host pilot manufacturing facilities for CamGraPhIC, a University of Cambridge graphene photonics spinout that secured €211m in Italian state aid approved by the European Commission. The Bergamo facility, opening alongside a Pisa plant in 2028, will produce graphene-based optical transceivers consuming 80% less energy than silicon equivalents. The technology targets AI data centres, high-performance computing, automotive, telecoms and aerospace.

Bergamo is a city of around 120,000 people in Lombardy, northern Italy, roughly 50 kilometres north-east of Milan. It is divided between the historic hilltop Città Alta (Upper City) and the modern commercial Città Bassa (Lower City). The area is part of Italy's industrial heartland, with a concentration of precision engineering, automotive supply-chain, and advanced manufacturing firms in the wider Bergamo province. The city is served by Orio al Serio International Airport, one of northern Italy's key freight and passenger hubs.

The selection of Bergamo reflects Lombardy's established industrial manufacturing base, which makes it well-suited to host the precision fabrication required for graphene photonic transceivers at pilot scale. Together, Pisa and Bergamo give CamGraPhIC a geographic spread across northern and central Italy, anchoring the company's manufacturing operations close to Italy's existing photonics and electronics supply chains. The two sites represent the first industrial-scale deployment of graphene photonic transceivers anywhere in the world.