September 2026 Mergers, Acquisitions and Investment Highlights

Photonics is experiencing a large boom leading to thousands of inventions and new applications. Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) and investments play a critical role in sustaining the growth of the photonics industry. Read our summary of M&A deals and investments in the photonics industry for September 2026.

Mergers & Acquisitions in Photonics

For the month of September, we’ve recorded a total of seventeen (17) M&As including (16) acquisitions and one (1) merger. Out of the total acquisitions for this month, two (2) were made by European companies whereas a total of seven (7) corporations from Europe were acquired.

The lone merger for this month involves GoPro (USA) and optical-photonics company Starman Optical (USA). The merger will recapitalize and reposition GoPro, help it expand into AI data center as well as the defense and aerospace markets. The transaction also allows GoPro to expand its reach within the US.

Below are the acquisitions made by companies based in Europe for this month:

• HUBER+SUHNER (Switzerland), an electrical and optical systems manufacturer and a member of EPIC, acquired the Connected Intelligence business of Motion Applied (United Kingdom) to broaden its capabilities to include software.
• Hexagon (Sweden), one of the leading measurement and positioning technologies specialists, acquired ZG Technology (China), a handheld 3D scanning technology manufacturer. With the acquisition, ZG Technology has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Hexagon and is projected to become Hexagon’s “centre of excellence for portable metrology.”

Let’s look at the other M&As which involved the acquisitions of European companies:

• Laserax (Canada) acquired a majority stake of SLCR Lasertechnik (Germany), a manufacturer of specialized laser systems for laser surface treatment. The acquisition will expand Laserax’s international presence and its range of technologies, products and applications.
• Cienna (USA), a world-leading high-speed connectivity company, acquired EPIC member and integrated photonics specialist Photonpath (Italy). The addition of Photonpath’s expertise in photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and advanced optical materials will complement the photonics integration capabilities of Cienna and improve their optical innovation roadmap.
• Enovis (USA), a leading medtech solutions provider, acquired eCential (France) for €176 million, a developer of enabling technologies and surgical robotics. The acquisition will enable Enovis to add robotic automation capabilities into its portfolio and help provide surgeons a powerful integrated set of precision tools.
• Swarmer (USA), a drone autonomy platform company, acquired UGV (unmanned ground vehicle) manufacturer Ratel Robotics (Ukraine) for $224 million, advancing both companies’ systems into one integrated solution.
• IBM (USA), a member of EPIC, acquired Logiq Consulting (United Kingdom) in an agreement aimed at expanding secure digital transformation and cyber security capabilities.
• Winbond Electronics (Taiwan), a global leader in semiconductor memory solutions, acquired for $1.12 billion the NOR Flash and F-RAM business of Infineon (Germany). The acquisition will allow Infineon to “focus its portfolio and capital allocation on its core growth driver.” For Winbond, the addition of NOR Flash and F-RAM products will allow it to provide customers with a broad and complementary portfolio.

Rounding out the M&As for September are the other significant transactions all throughout the globe:

• NVIDIA (USA), one of the major technology companies and a leader in Artificial Intelligence computing, acquired for $12.93 billion Hugging Face (USA) to improve its infrastructure as well as to expand access to AI for developers and institutions.
• Flex (USA) acquired for $4.4 billion EPC Power (USA), targeting grid-forming technology, Cloud and Power expansion, and the growth of their EBITDA margin profile.
• Cognex (USA), a leading industrial machine vision company, acquired RealSense (USA) for $500 million. The definitive agreement positions Cognex to enter the robotic market through the latter’s adjacent market.
• TDK (Japan), a leading electronic components and devices company, acquired for $400 million Fabric8Labs (USA), a specialist in advanced metal 3D printing technology. The acquisition will improve the competitiveness of TDK across data centers and will result in Fabric8Labs becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of TDK.

Investments

A total of twenty-eight (28) investments in photonics and related industries have been noted for the month of September, with six (6) European companies securing needed funding to fuel and/or expand their activities and capabilities. Let’s take a look at some of the key investments secured by companies based in Europe this September:

• iPronics (Spain), one of the pioneers in software-defined photonics and a member of EPIC, raised $125 million      in a Series B funding round to scale programmable optical networking for AI data centers.
• INLEAP Photonics (Germany), a deep-tech company, secured €23 million to scale laser-based drone defense in its latest funding round.
• Oxxius (France), a member of EPIC and high-performance laser technology company, secured €5 million, which it will use to accelerate international growth.
• Open Cosmos (United Kingdom), one of the leading satellite and space infrastructure manufacturer, secured €300 million in funding to further develop its satellite mass manufacturing capabilities as well as to accelerate the delivery of intelligence and connectivity services.
• Morphotonics (Netherlands), a member of EPIC and developer of large-area nanoimprint lithography platforms, raised €40 million plus in a Series B round to develop further manufacturing technology for AI glasses, Augmented Reality waveguides and advanced photonic components.

Significant investments were likewise obtained by key players in the industry across the globe this month:

• Stoke Space (USA), a leading space company, raised $1 billion in a Series E round to expand its production and launch capacity, particularly to accelerate reusable launch.
• Celero Communications (USA), a developer of advanced coherent DSP solutions, obtained $275 million in its Series C round to help achieve its goal of redefining how AI infrastructure connects and scales.
• Lyte (USA), a physical AI perception company, secured $165 million in its Series C financing round to scale production of its sensing silicon and LyteVision™ platform, among others.
• Ayar Labs (USA), a developer of co-packaged optics (CPO) solutions for AI, raised $150 million to scale development of “manufacturing-ready CPO for AI scale-up beyond the rack.”
• Pixxel (India/USA), a space technology company, secured $100 million in a Series C funding round to accelerate its growth, advance its sensing capabilities, and extend observations into shortwave infrared (SWIR), among others.

Of course, EPIC members secured and/or provided funding opportunities for this month. As mentioned above, members of EPIC iPronics (Spain), Oxxius (France) and Morphotonics (Netherlands) were able to secure funding to improve their capabilities and/or growth. EPIC member Intel (USA) participated as investor in the latest funding round of Ayar Labs (USA). Bosch Ventures, the venture-capital arm of EPIC member Bosch (Germany), took part as investor in the latest funding round of another member of EPIC iPronics (Spain). Lastly, EPIC member Hamamatsu (Japan), thru its venture-capital arm Hamamatsu Ventures, took part in the funding round of Ramona Optics (USA) which helped the latter raise $25 million for the commercialization of AI microscopy technology.

Note: The mergers and acquisitions (M&As) as well as the investments compiled in this article are based on information readily available at the date of the publication of this article. EPIC shall update the article whenever it comes across publication of other transactions after the release of this article. Readers are encouraged to inform EPIC in case of an omission of a particular M&A or investment for the subject month. Feel free to give us an email at info@epic-photonics.com for inquiries.