Additional comments from ficonTEC (SHE: 300757) co-founder, Torsten Vahrenkamp. Honestly, this makes me skeptical to not believe everything that gets published on Digitimes.

In his words: “Hot take of the week:

Apparently, ficonTEC is “stepping back” from silicon photonics test.

Interesting theory. Wrong—but interesting.

Let’s reset the narrative.

We’re not stepping back.

We’re right in the middle of scaling what others are still PowerPointing.

Same international leadership team. Same focus: industrializing silicon photonics for AI, datacenters, and everything that actually ships—CPO, LPO, OCS.

And while the rumors are circulating, here’s what’s actually happening:

→ Driving double-sided wafer-level electro-optical test—one of the toughest problems in CPO manufacturing

→ Delivering die-level test and validation for optical engines

→ Scaling high-volume automation, including LPO production systems

→ Working daily with foundries, ATE partners, and system players who care about throughput—not headlines

The narrative that scalable test solutions don’t exist? Outdated.

The real question is simple:

Who can actually deliver at scale—with yield, uptime, and reliability?

That’s where things usually get quiet.

At ficonTEC, that’s exactly where we operate. We focus on turning R&D into production reality—solving bottlenecks that show up on factory floors, not conference stages.

More to come soon.

And as always—happy to engage in fact-based discussions with people building real systems.”

Link to his LinkedIn post: