Thank you, Madam Chair, for that question.
The NRC is in fact a leader in photonics research and development. The Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre, the CPFC, is actually the world's best pure play fab for the production of photonic devices. We are very grateful for the generous investment of $90 million to revitalize our CPFC, which will allow Canada to continue to be a world leader for the next generation.
In terms of what Dr. Vats said, I can say that there is, of course, an intersection between photonics and optical telecom and those various technologies and emerging areas of quantum. Some forms of quantum technologies will in fact use photons in order to transmit the information. The NRC is well positioned. We're a world leader in an area we'll call silicon photonics, which involves the ability to build photonic devices inside of silicon chips.
I also want to stress the importance of collaboration. Canada really has a world-class ecosystem in photonics and in quantum science. The NRC plays a role in contributing to Canada's leadership, so thank you, Madam Chair, for the opportunity to speak to this.