Hamamatsu wins over government to buy NKT Photonics’ and its quantum tech
May / September 2024. Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (HP) announced the completion of the acquisition of NKT Photonics A/S (NKT). NKT is the leading supplier of high-performance fiber lasers and photonic crystal fibers. Based on their fiber technology, the laser products fall within three major product lines:
1. Supercontinuum White Light Lasers (SuperK): The SuperK lasers deliver high brightness in a broad spectral range (400 nm-2500 nm), and are used within bio-imaging, semiconductor metrology, and device-characterization.
2. Single-Frequency DFB Fiber Lasers (Koheras): The Koheras lasers have extremely high wavelength stability and low noise, and are ideal for fiber sensing, quantum computing, and quantum sensing.
3. Ultra-short pulse Lasers (aeroPULSE and Origami): This range of lasers consists of picosecond and femtosecond pulsed lasers with excellent beam quality and stability. The lasers are mainly used within ophthalmic surgery, bio-imaging, and optical processing applications.
The acquisition enables HP to combine detectors and cameras with NKT’s lasers and fibers for the rapidly growing quantum computing market to detect the quantum state of the qubits.
From left to right: Alberto Verga, Managing Director, Hamamatsu Photonics Italia, Markus Mayer, Managing Director Hamamatsu France Solothurn Branch, Mats Hede, Managing Director, Hamamatsu Photonics Norden, Earl Hergert, President, Hamamatsu Corporation, Timothy Stokes, Managing Director, Hamamatsu Photonics UK, Max Ove K. Skoglund, Managing Director, Hamamatsu Photonics Europe, Hubert Ortner, Strategic Business Development Manager, Hamamatsu Europe, Tadashi Maruno, Representative Director and President, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., Basil Garabet, President & CEO of NKT Photonics, Kim Per Hansen, COO, NKT Photonics, Laura Pagano, VP of Sales, Hamamatsu Corporation, Naofumi Toriyama, Managing Executive Officer - Division Director, Business Headquarters, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., Fumio Iwase, Executive Officer - Chief of BPR General Headquarters / Division Director, Systems Division, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., Akiyoshi Mabuchi, General Manager Corporate Strategy Office / Business Planning System Division, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., Reinhold Guth, Managing Director, Hamamatsu Photonics Deutschland, Miles Nakamura, General Manager Business Promotion Electron Tube Division / Laser Promotion Division, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., Norihiro Fukuchi, Deputy Manager, Business Promotion of Laser Promotion Division, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., Marc Pontoizeau, Managing Director, Hamamatsu Photonics France
Source: Hamamatsu K.K.
Disclaimer: You agree that B2Bioworld is not responsible and will not be held liable for any third party content on its sites or any third-party content, products or services available on other web sites accessed through links from B2Bioworld sites. Links to third-party sites are for your convenience only, and their inclusion on B2Bioworld\'s sites does not imply any endorsement, guarantee, warranty or representation by B2Bioworld.
B2Bioworld Comment
In June 2022 Hamamatsu acquired shares of NKT A/S, an electric cable supplier listed at the Copenhagen stock exchange, to take over its Photonics division, NKT Photonics A/S. In 2019 this company was active in the medical and life science industries and accounted for just about 15% of NKT A/S revenues while facing significant uncertainties in its markets and required major investments into technology. This lead to the divestment decision by the mother company and the sale to Photonics Management Europe Srl, which is Hamamatsu’s acquisition vehicle operating from Belgium. The sale was valued between €205m to €208m, but governments had to approve the transaction. While the Danish government was preparing a national strategy for quantum computing (Erhervsministeriet 2023) its agency Erhervsstyrelsen, the Danish Business Authority vetoed the sale to Japanese Hamamatsu on security reasons (e.g. potentially affecting quantum encryption) in May 2023. However this decision was overturned a year later after the Japanese company reapplied, which then led to the government approval and the completion of the acquisition by Hamamatsu K.K..
The initial press release was published by Hamamatsu headquarters May 31, but on the occasion of republishing it, Hamamatsu Europe added to the previous press release and included the photo of the acquisition event in its Corporate Newsletter of September 2. B2Bioworld is pleased to publish their names and postions after they were added by the company upon our enquiry. We also added some history and financials of NKT Photonics A/S 2023-2024.
Erhervsministeriet (2023): National Strategi for Kvanteteknologi: Del 2 - Kommercialisering, sikkerhed og internationalt samarbejde. September 28.
Other articles recommended
B2Bioworld offers you background information
Alain Aspect, Nobel Laureate in Physics 2022
A view from quantum optics and interfaces between Physics, Information, and Biology.
AI-enabled Digital Pathology: Correlate anything with everything?
Listeria Research Today and Tomorrow
Pascale Cossart, Professor at Institut Pasteur, Paris and Head of Unité des Interactions Bactéries-Cellules
Shift in Cancer Research Translation
Christof von Kalle, at the time Head of Germany’s National Center for Tumor Diseases on new approaches to achieve tangible clinical results – or to manoeuvring into dead ends