Nexstrom, a Singapore-based semiconductor startup, announced on 22 September that it has secured a $12 million seed round led by Xora Innovation, with Foothill Ventures and SEEDS also participating. The financing brings total capital raised to $15 million, including $3 million in non-dilutive funding.
Key points
- Nexstrom is developing what it describes as the first platform for growing 12-inch single-crystal 2D semiconductor materials on production-ready manufacturing tools.
- Its full-stack platform integrates proprietary CVD equipment, process technology, custom chemistry and wafer-scale growth designed to fit into existing foundry workflows.
- Co-founder and chief scientist Dr Lance Li has worked on single-crystal MoS₂ growth since 2012 and led corporate research at TSMC on post-silicon electronics.
- Board advisors include Dr Philip Wong of Stanford University, Dr Sundar Ramamurthy, Dr Aaron Thean and Dr John Langan.
- The company was founded in 2024 and incubated through Xora Innovation’s venture-building model.
Seed round backs wafer-scale 2D materials platform
The $12 million seed round, announced on 22 September, was led by Xora Innovation with Foothill Ventures and SEEDS participating. SEEDS is an arm of SG Growth Capital. The company says the capital will speed up commercialisation of its wafer-scale 2D semiconductor platform, aiming to achieve the industry’s first 12-inch 2D wafer growth on production-ready manufacturing tools. The company is also working with unnamed industry partners to validate the technology within existing chip manufacturing workflows.
Technology targets silicon’s scaling limits for AI workloads
As AI workloads push demand for more powerful and energy-efficient chips, silicon transistor scaling is approaching physical limits where electron leakage increases power loss. Two-dimensional semiconductor materials — atomically thin crystals such as transition metal dichalcogenides — offer tighter electron control at sub-nanometre scales. Nexstrom’s platform aims to bridge the manufacturing gap by growing single-crystal 2D materials on standard 12-inch (300 mm) wafers within existing foundry processes, using proprietary CVD hardware, process technology and specialised chemistry.
Technical leadership and advisory board
Dr Lance Li, co-founder and chief scientist, has researched single-crystal molybdenum disulfide growth since 2012 and later led corporate research at TSMC on post-silicon electronics. He has been a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher since 2018, a distinction recognising roughly the top 0.1% of researchers worldwide by citation influence. The board and advisory group includes Dr Philip Wong, Inez Kerr Bell Professor at Stanford University, who said 2D semiconductor materials are already on the technology roadmaps of major semiconductor companies and the challenge is making them manufacturable at the quality and scale required. Dr Sundar Ramamurthy, Dr Aaron Thean and Dr John Langan also serve as advisors.
Validation with foundry partners underway
Nexstrom is working with semiconductor industry partners to validate its technology within existing manufacturing workflows. The company’s approach is designed to fit into advanced foundry processes without requiring manufacturers to redesign fabrication lines. The fresh capital will fund further platform work, partnerships with chipmakers, and hiring across engineering and leadership as Nexstrom pursues high-performance, low-power chips for AI, data centres and future computing applications.
