Black Semi Secures €250 Million for Graphene Pilot Wafer Fab

The German federal government and the State of North-Rhine-Westphalia are making a significant investment in Black Semiconductor by committing €228.7 million in funding. In addition to this, the company has secured €25.7 million in equity funding, with leading contributions from Porsche Ventures and Project A Ventures, among others.

Black Semi is at the forefront of developing a cutting-edge ‘back-end-of-line’ photonics manufacturing process that enables on-chip optical signal routing and fiber-to-chip interfaces for chip-to-chip connections. The technology boasts bidirectional electro-optic conversion capabilities with data transmission rates of up to 10Pbits/s, while remaining compatible with CMOS ‘front-end of line’ manufacturing.

With this substantial funding, Black Semiconductor is poised to become the pioneer in high-volume production of graphene-based chips. Despite setting ambitious goals, the company anticipates achieving mass production by 2031, allowing ample time for technology refinement and development.

Black Semi plans to utilize the latest funding to expedite research and development efforts and establish a pilot line wafer fab in Aachen, Germany, by 2026. Moreover, the company aims to expand its workforce significantly, with plans to create 90 engineering positions, increasing its total employee count from 30 to 120 by 2026.

Founded in 2020 by Dr. Daniel Schall and Sebastian Schall, Black Semiconductor is revolutionizing optical chip-to-chip networks, particularly in data centers, to enhance communication speed and energy efficiency. The company envisions its technology making a profound impact on various sectors, including generative and embedded AI, as well as autonomous driving.

Speaking on the recent investment, Daniel Schall, co-founder and CEO of Black Semiconductor, expressed his enthusiasm, stating: “The investment enables us to drive our product development and 300 mm wafer pilot production facility forward at full speed.” For more information, visit www.blacksemiconductor.de.