Lace Secures $40M for Next-Gen Chip Manufacturing

As far-fetched as this sounds, this startup plans to used a light beam with a wavelength of 0.1nm vs. 13.5nm which is the standard current cutting-edge lithography systems use. A few years out before we see this developed and prototyped but the theoretical gains are significant.

Innovation made in Europe: Lace Lithography is working to develop a new manufacturing process for chips that would enable etching of features an order of magnitude smaller than what ASML can achieve today. The potential has understandably attracted investors attention with a $40 million series A funding round.

Microsoft-supported startup secures \$40 million for cutting-edge chip manufacturing technology #business #technology #rswebsols https://ift.tt/yZgOv08 Microsoft-backed startup Lace has just announced a \$40 million Series A to accelerate groundbreaking semiconductor manufacturing technology. Based in Norway and supported by Microsoft’s M12, Lace is developing a helium atom beam lithography method aimed at achieving near-atomic precision—significantly smaller than today’s lithography scales. This approach could unlock new pathways for AI processor performance by enabling transistors and components at unprecedented miniaturization. In a field traditionally led by light-based lithography from ASML, Lace’s atom beam technique represents a bold step toward wafer printing at what is described as atomic resolution, with potential to redefine chip design and manufacturing. The round was led by Atomico, with participation from Linse Capital, the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation, and Nysnø, among others. Read more about Lace’s funding, the technology, and what it could mean for the future of semiconductors in the blog post: https://ift.tt/yZgOv08

Chip lithography start-up Lace raises $40m for tech development The funds could enable significant advances in semiconductor design and manufacturing. Lace Lithography, a Microsoft-backed Norwegian chipmaking equipment start-up, has announced the raising of $40m to be used in the advancement of its unique semiconductor technologies. The Series A funding round was led by Atomico with additional investments from Microsoft’s venture arm M12, Linse Capital, the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation and Nysnø....

Lithography the process of putting an image onto the surface of the silicon. Pretty much like the way a silkscreen puts  “Team Building Exercise 1999” on a T-shirt. Except that this image has to be the highest resolution, with the smallest microscopic features, of anything humans produce. “Moore’s Law” usually refers to increasing transistor density. Basically, how can we make transistors half as big as they were 18 months ago? Every time we figure that out, computers get twice as powerful. The state of the art uses Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) light to do the lithography. The machine that can do this cost $50 billion to develop. It has 500,000 parts. Only the Large Hadron Collider is more complicated. To buy one costs $250 million and you’ll be stuck on a waiting list that is $40 billion long. The machine comes from ASML in the Netherlands and they don’t have a single competitor, in the entire world. That machine shoots a tiny ball of molten tin into a vacuum and blasts it with two lasers. This produces a flash of 13.5 nanometer ultraviolet light that gets aimed at the surface of a silicon wafer. ASML advanced from 193nm to 13.5nm light to make this possible, but there’s a problem. The diffraction limit of 13.5 nanometer light was set by either God or Issac Newton and there’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t print features smaller than that and there’s no practical way to do lithography with a shorter wavelength. When people say that Moore’s Law is over, this is why. The semiconductor industry knows this, so they’ve tried to solve the problem by handing it over to the marketing department where the laws of physics don’t apply. You’ve seen them progress from 45nm to 30nm to 20nm over the last decade, then all of the sudden, 12nm, 7nm, 5nm & soon 3nm chips are coming. This is all just marketing bullshit. This measurement in chips used to be half the distance between the centers of two features. Once marketing took over, they started measuring half the distance between the edges of two features. Instant improvement! Then they started measuring other random stuff. Other kinds of improvements in chip design helped to gloss over the fact that we are no longer able to shrink the size of transistors. Today, there are extraordinary geopolitical machinations to control chip production. The U.S. has tariffs and export controls akin to those for fighter jets and ICBMs. Access to chip production is as critical to superpowers as oil. Lace Lithography had been in stealth since we invested in them a few years ago. They’ve invented the technology that can go beyond Extreme UV and put Moore’s Law back on track. By using helium atoms instead of light, they can make transistors 10x smaller than the physical limit of ultraviolet light can. https://lnkd.in/dq8ruxHV

Atoms instead of photons: Norwegian startup Lace Lithography is developing a chip-making technology that could one day succeed ASML's #EUV tools. For the foreseeable future, the EUV machine is the only tool capable of printing ultra-fine chip patterns. But the huge demand for #AI computing is encouraging inventors to explore alternatives to ASML's approach, in which #EUV light is generated by firing a powerful laser at tin droplets (#LPP). Techniques such as #nanoimprint (stamping) and #ebeam (writing with electrons) are not suited for mass production. xLight Inc. wants to generate EUV light using an electron accelerator. Chinese companies like Huawei may be trying to produce EUV light by creating a spark near a bath of tin (#LDP), and startup Substrate wants to use X-rays. But in Norway, it's different. "Where light stops, atoms begin," says Bodil Holst, founder of Lace Lithography, a startup based in Bergen. She explains it in a call with NRC, along with co-founder and CTO Adrià Salvador Palau. The #wavelength of light determines how precisely you can 'print'. EUV uses a wavelength of 13.5 nanometers and further reduces that beam using mirrors. The wavelength of helium atoms is less than 0.1 nanometer and could achieve better resolution. Today's best-in-class tool is High-NA EUV, with a half pitch currently at 8 nm. Lace presented 50 nm but could, in theory, shrink to 0.5 nm. By fitting more transistors on the same surface, chips become more efficient and powerful. In practice, you will also need metrology and inspection to verify that all the lines still fit neatly together, otherwise the chip will not work. And that must also happen at high speed, since chipmakers want productivity and need to keep stamping wafers. Lace drives metastable #helium atoms, carrying higher energy in one of their electrons, through a mask with holes. The atoms that are not blocked, hit the light-sensitive layer of a silicon wafer and thus draw the pattern. That mask with holes reminded Bodil Holst of lace making (in Dutch: kantklossen). Lace just raised €40 million in a new investment round. The #EU already provided a grant for research together with imec in Belgium. Holst presented those results at #SPIE, in a room where ASML researchers were also seated. "They said they found it an interesting approach." Around 2030, a Lace prototype capable of printing multiple chip layers should be ready. For a roadmap beyond EUV, Lace has to address issues like #pattern transfer (the chemical process in the #photoresist), as well as #mask creation and inspection and accurate placement of IC features. It requires a great deal of computing work to design that perforated mask so that the chip lines still come out correctly. You need AI and fast chips, explains Adrià Salvador Palau. "Without the powerful chips from EUV machines, we would never have been able to solve that problem." #semiconductors #lithography John Petersen #compute link to article in NRC in comments

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙌𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙏𝙚𝙘𝙝 Day 26 of sector analysis ASML(Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography) is a Dutch multinational corporation that develops and manufactures photolithography machines which are used to produce integrated circuits. It is the largest supplier for the semiconductor industry, as well as the most advanced producer of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV machines that are required to manufacture the most advanced chips. As of January 2026 its market capitalization was approximately $527 billion, making it Europe's largest technology company and one of its most valuable firms overall. The Machines That Make Microchips Possible ASML builds lithography machine basically the only machines in the world capable of printing extremely tiny circuits on chips. Their most advanced systems, called EUV are so complex that no other company has successfully replicated them. This matters because companies like Apple and NVIDIA rely on these machines to make their most powerful chips. Without ASML modern smartphones AI and even gaming GPUs wouldn’t exist as we know them. ASML'S MONOPOLY ASML isn’t just successful it’s untouchable in its niche. There is effectively no competition in EUV lithography. While companies like Canon and Nikon tried competing, they lac far behind in advancedchip making tech. This gives ASML insane pricing ppower and influence. It’s not a monopoly by law, but in reality, it operates like one and that’s incredibly rare in today’s hypercompetitive tech world. The Customers You Know , But never heard of them What’s crazy is ASML doesn’t sell to regular consumers it sells to giants behind the scenes. Its biggest customers include TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and Intel. These companies nanufacture chips for brands like Apple and NVIDIA, meaning ASML sits at the very start of the entire tech supply chain. If ASML slows down the whole world of electronicsslows down. That level of dependency is what makes its position so powerful and honestly kind of scary. Why Governments Care So Much About ASML Here’s where things get intense. ASML isn’t just a company it’s a geopolitical asset. Countries like the United States have pushed to restrict ASML from selling its most advanced machines to China. Why?? Because whoever controls advanced chips controls AI military systems and futuretechnologies. This puts ASML right in the middle of global power struggles. Tech War: Chips Are the New Oil The ongoing tension between the U.S. and China has turned semiconductors into a battlefield. ASML sits at the center of this conflict. By limiting access to its machines, Western countries can slow down China’s technological progress. This shows how supply chains are no longer just economic they’re political weapons. ASMLs role highlights how deeply business and geopolitics are now connected. Share your thoughts on ASML below 👇🏻 #ai #chips #asml

🏆 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝑰𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏: 𝑨𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝑷𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒚 𝑬𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒑𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 🔬⚙️ 📊 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝑺𝒊𝒛𝒆 & 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕 The Advanced Packaging Lithography Equipment Market is projected to grow from USD 2.6 Billion in 2025 to USD 5.4 Billion by 2032, registering a CAGR of 11.0% during the forecast period 📈 ➢ 🔽 𝑨𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝑫𝑭 𝑺𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝑪𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒌 📊 https://lnkd.in/dHwx_Dr8 📊 𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝑫𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔 & 𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 💡 Rising demand for high-performance computing & AI chips 📦 Growth of advanced packaging (2.5D/3D IC, fan-out) ⚡ Increasing need for miniaturization & high-density integration 🚗 Expansion of automotive electronics & EVs 📡 Rapid deployment of 5G infrastructure 📊 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝑺𝒆𝒈𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 🔽 By Type : 🔬 Advanced Lithography Equipment ⚙️ Mask Aligners & Steppers 🔽 By Application : 📱 Consumer Electronics 🚗 Automotive 💻 IT & Telecom 🏭 Industrial 🔽 By Packaging Technology : 📦 Fan-Out Wafer Level Packaging (FOWLP) 🧩 2.5D/3D IC Packaging 🔗 System-in-Package (SiP) 🏆 𝑻𝒐𝒑 𝟒𝟎 𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 ➡️ ➣ ASML ➣ Nikon Precision Inc. ➣ Canonical ➣ Applied Materials ➣ Tokyo Electron ➣ KLA ➣ Lam Research ➣ SCREEN Semiconductor Solutions Co., Ltd. ➣ Veeco Instruments S.A.S. ➣ SUSS MICROTEC LTD. ➣ The EV Group (EVG) ➣ Onto Innovation ➣ Kulicke & Soffa ➣ ASM International ➣ Hitachi High-Tech Corporation ➣ Advantest ➣ Teradyne ➣ DISCO ➣ ULVAC Technologies, Inc. ➣ Shibaura Mechatronics Corp ➣ ZEISS Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology ➣ Rudolph Technologies ➣ FormFactor Inc. ➣ Technoprobe ➣ Amkor Technology, Inc. ➣ ASE Group ➣ JCET Group ➣ Powertech Technology (Suzhou) Ltd. ➣ TSMC ➣ Samsung Electronics ➣ Intel ➣ SK hynix ➣ Micron Technology ➣ GlobalFoundries ➣ SMIC ➣ UMC ➣ Infineon Technologies ➣ STMicroelectronics ➣ NXP Semiconductors ➣ Renesas Electronics 📊 𝑻𝒐𝒑 𝑻𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 🚀 Shift toward EUV & advanced lithography nodes 📦 Rapid adoption of heterogeneous integration 🤖 AI-driven semiconductor manufacturing ⚡ Growth in chiplet-based architectures 🌐 Expansion of global semiconductor fabs 📊 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 ✔️ Enables next-gen semiconductor packaging ✔️ Supports high-speed, low-power devices ✔️ Critical for AI, 5G, and EV innovation ✔️ Drives performance and miniaturization #️⃣ #Semiconductor #Lithography #AdvancedPackaging #ChipManufacturing #AI #5G #EV #Electronics #Innovation #TechTrends #Microelectronics 🚀🔬

A great example on developments dominated in the beginning by reactions of “unlikely or impossible” but which in time with innovations and engineering stamina slowly turn into “logical” developments.

The Chip Insider® Are there no more wavelengths?   Summary: SPIE Advanced Lithography & Patterning Conference: After 50 years of breakthroughs … a dark question emerged: Was EUV the last wavelength? This is a very critical question, because if true, it would affect every corner of the industry because it would effectively mean the end of Moore’s Law. It’s hidden right there in Gordon Moore’s 1965 Electronics Magazine article… Over the last 50 years, the progress of scaling … and thus the industry … has been critically dependent on these two factors, which have to a large degree been moved forward by this very conference... Why would EUV be the last wavelength? There are two reasons: Economic and Technical... Cost of B-EUV tool development … Don’t laugh … You just need a different frame of mind to understand this. B-EUV Technology Barriers: There are significant challenges with wavelengths shorter than EUV’s 13.5 nm... This 50th Anniversary ALP conference proved that technologists rarely look back. Sometimes they look sideways. But most of the time they are laser focused on what’s ahead. The 50th Anniversary ALP conference proved to be a springboard for what’s ahead. Before it, I would say B-EUV was seen almost as a joke. I was certainly a sceptic. Now I’m not so sure. As I wrote in December, ‘Moore’s Law is dead. Long live Moore’s Law.’   IBM to the rescue: Morris Chang once chided the top R&D executives at TSMC: “If IBM can do it, you know it can be done.” Alan Gabor’s Lithography Roadmap went all the way to 1A and 2040, showing the technologies needed to pave the way. This included…  Vivek Bakshi’s presentation on the Blue-X consortium and its TWG … (Technical Working Group) was another eye-opener about how the lithography community is coming together to push scaling ahead… Then there was Lace Lithography’s time machine that catapulted you from Hank Smith’s MIT Lincoln Labs in the 90s to today (13982-76). Lace is out of Norway. The presenter, Bodil Holst is CEO and co-founder. She proposed using matter waves … helium atoms … The advantage is … The disadvantage is there’s so much missing infrastructure. This was true of all the B-EUV work presented. It reminded me of the old NGL days filled with many dreams of which only one, EUV, would win and the winner, ASML, wasn’t even there. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the EUV party, which is a long-forgotten truth. They never stole it as some have claimed. No one else wanted it after the few that did died in the funding desert… Lithography is a system of tools, processes, materials, and flows that, when ignored, leave their protagonists without food or water in a death valley.         “I've always been more interested in the future than in the past”                                           — Grace Hopper For subscribers to The Chip Insider®, the full write-up can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gdyaVC_u March 13, 2026 issue Copyright © 2026 TechInsights Inc. All rights reserved