Nexstrom raises US$12 million to scale 12

Singapore-based semiconductor company Nexstrom has raised US$12 million in seed funding to commercialise its wafer-scale platform for single-crystal 2D semiconductor materials. Through this initiative, the firm is working towards production across industry-standard 12-inch wafers.

Led by Xora Innovation, the round saw participation from Foothill Ventures and SEEDS. The new investment lifts Nexstrom’s total capital raised to US$15 million, an amount that includes US$3 million in non-dilutive funding. Moving forward, the company plans to allocate the fresh capital towards further platform development, collaborations with semiconductor foundries, and the expansion of its engineering and leadership teams.

Scaling 2D materials for chip manufacturing

Nexstrom describes its technology as the industry’s first platform for growing single-crystal 2D semiconductor materials across 12-inch wafers. The company is currently working towards running the process on production-ready manufacturing equipment, with the aim of moving 2D materials from laboratory-scale development into commercial chip manufacturing.

The technology targets the physical limits that emerge as silicon channels become smaller. As those channels shrink, heightened electron leakage can increase power loss, restricting further improvements in efficiency. Nexstrom says atomically thin 2D semiconductor materials can provide more precise control over electrons and reduce energy loss at the transistor level.

Its platform combines proprietary chemical vapour deposition hardware, process technology, specialised chemistry, and wafer-scale material growth. The company says it is designed to fit into existing foundry workflows, allowing chipmakers to introduce the materials without replacing their established manufacturing processes.

“Silicon has fuelled decades of computing innovation, but the industry now needs a new materials platform to continue scaling performance,” said Dr. Lance Li, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist. “For years, the challenge has not been demonstrating the promise of 2D materials, but manufacturing them at the scale and quality advanced foundries require.”

Targeting uniform growth across 12-inch wafers

Nexstrom was originally incubated through Xora Innovation’s venture-building model. Today, the company is working alongside industry partners to validate its technology within existing semiconductor manufacturing workflows.

Central to these collaborative efforts is the objective to achieve continuous single-crystal growth across 12-inch, or 300 mm, wafers. Nexstrom board adviser Dr. Philip Wong, who is also Inez Kerr Bell Professor at Stanford University, identified high-quality and uniform 2D materials across 300 mm substrates as a requirement for semiconductor manufacturing.

Nexstrom’s technical work is led by Li, who has worked on single-crystal molybdenum disulphide, or MoS₂, growth since 2012. He later led corporate research at TSMC on post-silicon electronics and has been named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher since 2018.

The company also draws on a wider board and advisory group. This group includes Dr. Sundar Ramamurthy, Dr. Aaron Thean and Dr. John Langan.

The funding will support continued development of the platform and collaborations with semiconductor foundries as Nexstrom works towards large-scale production. Looking ahead, the company is targeting chips for AI, data centres and high-performance computing, where its 2D materials are intended to support higher computing performance with lower power consumption.