Nokia has agreed to acquire Elenion Technologies, a U.S.-based company focusing on silicon photonics technology.
Elenion’s technology expertise and design platform and services enable Nokia to expand its optical networking business by addressing the optical connectivity requirements of 5G, cloud and enterprise networking.
Finland-based Nokia said ownership of these assets brings time-to-market and cost advantages to Nokia’s networking solutions by applying the massive scale and economies of silicon design and manufacturing to the optical supply chain.
“Elenion provides a strong strategic fit for Nokia. Its solutions can be readily integrated into Nokia’s product offerings and address multiple high growth segments including 5G, cloud and data center networking,” Sam Bucci, head of Optical Networking at Nokia, said in a statement.
Elenion develops low-cost silicon photonics technologies for short-reach and high-performance optical interfaces and has pioneered a design toolset which enables a simplified, low cost, scalable manufacturing process.
The Elenion platform simplifies integration with optical chipsets, lowers power consumption, improves port density and helps to lower the overall cost per bit for network operators.
Elenion, founded in 2014, is privately held and headquartered in New York, NY. The deal is expected to close in Q1 2020, subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions.