New Vilnius Factory for Femtosecond Lasers

Femtosecond laser startup Litilit has begun developing a new large-scale femtosecond laser production facility in Vilnius, with a project value of approximately 6M €. The company plans to complete the main construction and fit-out works by the end of this year and reach annual production capacity of up to 3,000 lasers within approximately a few years of launch. Femtosecond lasers are among the most advanced tools for high-precision material processing. Their extremely short light pulses enable highly accurate processing with minimal thermal impact and makes them suitable for a wide range of applications – from semiconductor and advanced electronics manufacturing to medical procedures such as eye surgery. According to Nikolajus Gavrilinas, co-founder and CEO of Litilit, one of the biggest barriers to mass femtosecond laser adoption today is that there are no ways to manufacture lasers at the scale that industry will require.

"Traditionally, femtosecond laser architectures evolved from scientific systems. They can deliver strong performance, but are often complex to assemble, difficult to automate and dependent on highly qualified specialists. Our lasers are based on a purpose-built architecture with lower component complexity, modular design and a high level of automation. This allows us to organize assembly, testing and quality control faster and more efficiently," Gavrilinas explains. The factory will be located in Vilnius with a business area covering 4,000 m². It will include two main production areas: a modern CNC metal machining shop and robotic femtosecond laser assembly and testing workshops. The main construction and fit-out works are planned for completion in the final quarter of 2026. During its first year of operations, the factory is expected to produce up to 1,000 femtosecond lasers, with capacity set to increase to 3,000 lasers annually within the following few years.

Patented technology

Gavrilinas explains that the technological foundation behind Litilit's approach to scalable production traces back to a 2014 discovery – a fundamentally new and patented method of generating ultrashort pulses. The company has been developing the technology since it was founded in 2015 and in 2022, it raised 3.7M € from Taiwania Capital and Iron Wolf Capital to support further technology development, becoming the first company to receive investment from Taiwan’s 200M $ CEE fund.

Based on the invention, made by Litilit co-founder Kęstutis Regelskis at the Center for Physical Sciences and Technology (FTMC) in Vilnius, Lithuania, the company developed a patented laser architecture that enables more efficient, compact and industrially scalable femtosecond laser systems. "Our architecture achieves around 20 % electrical-to-optical femtosecond efficiency, which is a strong result for this industry. In practical terms, this means lower energy consumption, reduced cooling requirements and reliable operation in industrial environments. The same architecture also allows us to build compact and robust lasers that require no maintenance and are robust to external disturbances," Gavrilinas says. The Vilnius factory is designed as the first step in a broader international expansion. Litilit plans to replicate the model in other regions together with international partners.

"Femtosecond lasers are becoming an essential tool for next-generation manufacturing, but wider adoption will depend on making the technology more accessible. With this factory, we are taking the first step toward a repeatable global production model – and we are proud to begin that journey in Lithuania, a country with a strong tradition in laser science and engineering," Gavrilinas concludes.

(Source: Litilit)