One-liner: the Universitat Politècnica de València's micro/nano-fabrication cleanroom and pilot line — rapid chip/photonics prototyping and small-series manufacturing described as the cleanest cleanroom in Spain, a genuine one-stop shop from design through packaging.
What a founder gets
- 500 m² ISO-7 (class 10,000) cleanroom with automation tools for backend processing of semiconductor wafers — design → fabrication → packaging under one roof, so hardware/chip startups can prototype (and small-series manufacture) without building their own fab or raising capex for one.
- Specific strength in photonic-chip production and hybrid integration photonic technology — UPVfab has stated ambitions to become an international leader in this niche.
- Resident-company program: external companies can co-locate and use the facility directly, not just as a one-off service client (see Key facts).
- Backed by five UPV research institutes, giving resident/client startups a route into deeper applied-research collaboration, not just fab time: iTEAM (telecom), ITQ (UPV-CSIC, chemical technology), I3M (UPV-CSIC, instrumentation), CI2B (biomedical/biomechanical engineering), IDM (UPV-UV, molecular design).
- Membership in AESEMI (Asociación Española de la Industria de Semiconductores) — plugs UPVfab, and by extension its resident companies, into Spain's national semiconductor-industry association.
Who it's for
- Hardware, photonics and semiconductor startups needing to fabricate — from a research-stage prototype through small-series production runs.
- Best fit for teams with a UPV connection (via StartUPV/IDEAS-UPV) but the facility also takes international resident companies directly.
How to engage
- fab.upv.es — "Access" page for service/equipment terms; "Residents" page for the co-location track.
- Contact via the site's contact channel; service is fee-based (
cost: paid) — not a free public facility.
Key facts
- Origins: the 500 m² class 100–10,000 (ISO-5/7) 6" MEMS pilot-line cleanroom was originally built (2009–2012) by former solar-cell manufacturer Siliken. After Siliken ceased operations, UPV took ownership; the room was run by industrial agents 2015–2017, then transitioned to UPV in 2017–2018. Since 2018, it has operated as UPVfab under UPV personnel.
- First international resident company: PICadvanced — a Portuguese optical-transceiver/photonics firm — followed by ALTER TECHNOLOGY TÜV NORD as a further resident company, evidencing the facility's international-client track record beyond UPV-only startups.
- Recently completed its silicon-nitride process equipment line, extending capability specifically for photonics.
- Node in the MICRONANOFABS national/European network of micro/nanofabrication facilities.
- Cited in the wiki's ecosystem research as the access-map anchor for semiconductors/hardware/photonics — the same category-defining role AINIA plays for foodtech and IBV plays for medtech: founders "know about grants" but rarely know they can fabricate a chip here without capex.
Relations
- See also: Semiconductors (niche)
- See also: Valencia Silicon Cluster
- See also: StartUPV
- See also: Valencia Chip Boost (Program)
- Runs: UPVfab NTC Cleanroom