Nexstrom raises $12 million to scale atomically thin chip materials

Singapore semiconductor startup Nexstrom raised a $12 million seed round from Xora Innovation, Foothill Ventures and SEEDS, bringing its total funding to $15 million. The company is developing equipment that grows transition-metal dichalcogenides, materials only a few atomic layers thick, directly on 300mm wafers used by commercial chip factories. Nexstrom plans to spend the money on process control, measurement, hiring and customer qualification. Its 12-inch system has produced material results, but consistently growing the material across a full wafer remains unresolved, and commercial production is expected between 2030 and 2035.