Ottawa-based Ranovus is investing $100 million to enhance its optical semiconductor manufacturing facility in the capital. This move will create 125 jobs as the company brings its outsourced manufacturing back to Ontario, supported by a $2 million grant from the Invest Ontario Fund.
Established in 2012 by CEO and Nortel veteran Hamid Arabzadeh, Ranovus specializes in optical interconnects to optimize data transfer speed and power efficiency in data centers, serving clients like AMD and MediaTek. Arabzadeh noted that this investment is part of scaling their 140-person team and relocating most of their supply chain, except for foundry wafer production, back to Canada.
Stephen Crawford, Ontario’s Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, stated that Ranovus’ reshoring efforts solidify Ontario’s position in global innovation. Previously, in 2023, Ranovus received federal funding for a $100 million project aimed at enhancing interconnect technologies for AI applications.
Ranovus also partnered with Cerebras Systems to win a $45 million USD contract from DARPA to integrate Cerebras’ chips with Ranovus’ networking technology.
Skaidra Puodžiūnas of the Council of Canadian Innovators highlighted Ontario’s support for Ranovus as “encouraging,” referencing a prior call from 75 Ontario CEOs for Premier Doug Ford to focus on homegrown innovation. While Ontario’s decision to subsidize Siemens’ new R&D center sparked concerns about prioritizing foreign investment over domestic growth, supporting Ranovus is seen as a positive shift.