Indra Group to lead GIGaNTE project
Indra Group, a Spanish consulting and technology firm, has announced that it will be leading a project called GIGaNTE (GaN and Advanced Packaging Technologies Research Initiative), aimed at providing Spain with the necessary capabilities to autonomously develop technologies based on GaN, an essential material in advanced defence applications, especially in high-reliability radar and communications systems.
The project involves a proprietary GaN manufacturing process that will enable progress in new high-performance electronic devices and circuits, capable of working in very demanding frequency ranges. This work includes developing MMICs and advanced integration and packaging techniques that facilitate their incorporation into more compact, reliable and efficient modules and antennas.
The initiative, launched last January, has a budget of more than €9 million and is expected to last for four years. For the first time in the country, it will enable the configuration of an integral value chain from the design of advanced devices to their manufacture, integration and final validation.
The consortium, led by Indra Group, includes companies such as Televes Corporación, SPARC Foundry and RBZ Robot Design, which will provide complementary capabilities in electronics, integrated circuit design and, in the case of SPARC Foundry, its industrial open manufacturing platform in III-V and GaN technologies, key to providing the project with a scalable production capacity.
Scientific teams from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, the University of Vigo, the University of Salamanca and the Galician Telecommunications Technology Center (GRADIANT) will also collaborate, contributing with specialised research on GaN architectures, device characterisation, development of compact models and new approaches to circuit integration.
"GaN is set to transform the next generation of defence and communications systems, and leading a project like GIGaNTE is a clear demonstration of Indra Group's commitment to the development of critical technology capabilities from Spain. Undertaking the coordination of this strategic initiative allows us to foster a first-class industrial and scientific ecosystem and to advance towards much more powerful, efficient and reliable radar, electronic warfare and communications systems. Having the capacity to develop and produce it in Spain is key to strengthening the technological sovereignty and competitiveness of our industry at a time when Europe needs to have its own solutions that reinforce strategic autonomy," said Joaquín Ponz, head of Portfolio and Innovation at Indra Group.
GIGaNTE is part of the Indra Group's commitment to strengthen national capabilities in critical technologies, a strategy it also drives through SPARC Foundry, a company in which it is a majority shareholder with a 37 percent stake. In June 2025, Indra announced it was taking a stake in SPARC to lead in Spain the design and production of chips based on GaN and other III-V technologies, in one of the three most ambitious initiatives in Europe in photonic and RF semiconductors.
In January of this year, the company took a new step with the start of construction in Vigo of the first Spanish GaN chip factory, a trailblazing facility that will strengthen technological sovereignty and will serve as the basis for future advanced systems in the fields of defense and aerospace, consolidating Indra's role as a driving force for national industry in a strategic area for Spain and Europe. This industrial infrastructure forms the basis of the project's future manufacturing capabilities and is integrated into the development of the SPARC Foundry technology platform.
