Black Semiconductor moves to new headquarters
The company, which uses graphene to enable optical communication between chips, plans to build a scalable pilot line for 300 mm wafer technology at the new premises
Black Semiconductor, a company using graphene to co-integrate electronics and photonics, has announced that it has recently moved to new headquarters, FabONE, in Aachen, Germany. The company says this move marks a significant milestone in its mission to create the world’s first energy-efficient, high-performance chip technology based on graphene. This news follows the €254.4 million funding round announced in June 2024.
Black Semiconductor aims to leverage the properties of graphene, a 2D material, to facilitate optical communication between chips. The company says their technology allows many chips to interact almost as if they were one, overcoming the limitations of silicon chip architecture and offering improvements in energy efficiency, speed, and scalability.
According to Black Semiconductor, FabONE has up to 15,000 square meters of space for their planned cleanroom and infrastructure construction, as well as 2,000 square meters of office space. The company says this will not only accommodate its 50 current employees, but also allow the team to expand to 100 people by the end of the year.
After a one-year construction phase, Black Semiconductor plans to have an operational scalable pilot line for 300 mm wafer technology in 2026. In 2027 the company is aiming to begin pilot production to optimise processes, and then to begin the transition to volume production in 2029, with the goal of reaching full volume production by 2031.
Black Semiconductor says these developments are set to contribute to ensuring Germany’s and Europe’s technological independence, with the graphene chips targeting applications ranging from high-performance computing and AI to autonomous vehicles and robotics.
“The establishment of FabONE allows us to take our current technology developments to the next level and significantly accelerate our progress,” said Daniel Schall, co-founder and CEO of Black Semiconductor. “We’re excited to continue realising our vision for the next generation of chip connectivity.”
Image credit: Andreas Hibert
