CamGraPhIC
University of Cambridge graphene photonics spinout; €211m Italian state aid approved April 2026.
Last refreshed: 22 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Why is Cambridge's biggest-ever spinout being built in Italy, not Britain?
Timeline for CamGraPhIC
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UK Startups and InnovationSecured €211m Italian state aid approval for Pisa and Bergamo manufacturing facilities
UK Startups and Innovation: EC clears €211m Italian aid for Cambridge spinout- What is CamGraPhIC and why is it building in Italy?
- CamGraPhIC is a University of Cambridge graphene photonics spinout. The European Commission approved €211m of Italian state aid on 15 April 2026, making it cheaper and more practical to site manufacturing in Pisa and Bergamo than in the UK.Source: European Commission state-aid approval, April 2026
- How much energy does graphene photonics save compared to silicon transceivers?
- CamGraPhIC's graphene-based optical transceivers consume 80% less energy than silicon equivalents while offering higher bandwidth and lower latency.Source: event
- Who founded CamGraPhIC?
- CamGraPhIC was co-founded by Professor Andrea Ferrari of the Cambridge Graphene Centre and Dr Marco Romagnoli, formerly of Italy's CNIT.Source: event
- Why did the UK lose the CamGraPhIC factory to Italy?
- The European Commission approved €211m of Italian state aid, ten times the size of any UK grant ever awarded to a Cambridge spinout. No equivalent UK instrument existed to match it.Source: Lowdown / EC approval notice
- When will CamGraPhIC open its manufacturing facilities?
- Pilot facilities in Pisa and Bergamo are scheduled to open in 2028.Source: event
Background
On 15 April 2026 the European Commission approved €211m (£183m) of Italian state aid for CamGraPhIC, making it the largest single grant ever made to a University of Cambridge spinout and ten times the size of any UK grant previously awarded to a Cambridge spinout. The company makes graphene-based optical transceivers that consume 80% less energy than silicon equivalents at higher bandwidth and lower latency, targeting AI data centres, high-performance computing, automotive, telecoms, and aerospace.
CamGraPhIC is a University of Cambridge spinout co-founded by Professor Andrea Ferrari of the Cambridge Graphene Centre and Dr Marco Romagnoli, formerly of Italy's CNIT (National Inter-University Consortium for Telecommunications). The company's intellectual property originates from Cambridge; pilot manufacturing facilities are scheduled to open in Pisa and Bergamo in 2028, with the commercial entity and industrial capital anchored in Italy.
The CamGraPhIC case captures the UK's persistent lab-to-factory gap in concentrated form. The technology is precisely what the Sovereign AI Unit and the AI Growth Zones exist to address domestically: ultra-efficient photonic interconnects for AI infrastructure. The IP stays in Cambridge while Italy secures the manufacturing, the jobs, and the €211m of industrial capital. Onward's Venturing Out research has documented this gap for four years; the EC approval on 15 April is the latest instance in which UK basic science converts into foreign industrial capacity rather than domestic production.
