Lace Secures $40M for Helium-Based Chip Fabrication Tech
▼ Summary
– Lace Lithography, a Norwegian startup, uses a beam of helium atoms roughly the width of a single hydrogen atom to etch chip patterns, aiming for features ten times smaller than current technology allows.
– The company raised a $40 million Series A round led by Atomico, with participation from Microsoft’s M12 and other European investors.
– It is targeting deployment of a test tool in a pilot chip fabrication plant around 2029, having already developed prototype systems.
– The startup was founded by University of Bergen physicist Bodil Holst and her former PhD student Adria Salvador Palau, who serve as CEO and CTO respectively.
– Its technology emerges amid geopolitical tensions and supply chain diversification efforts, offering a potential strategic alternative to ASML’s dominant extreme ultraviolet lithography systems.
A Norwegian startup has secured $40 million in funding to advance a radical new method for manufacturing semiconductors. Lace Lithography, founded by a physicist from the University of Bergen, employs a helium atom beam to etch circuit patterns, a process that could define features up to ten times smaller than today’s most advanced systems. This Series A round was led by Atomico, with participation from Microsoft’s M12 venture arm.
The current pinnacle of chipmaking relies on extreme ultraviolet lithography, or EUV, a technology dominated by the Dutch firm ASML. Its machines use 13.5-nanometer light to create the minuscule circuits in advanced processors. Each system represents a capital investment exceeding $350 million, and there is no viable alternative for leading-edge production, cementing ASML’s near-monopoly.
Lace aims to disrupt this status quo by replacing light with matter. Its technique utilizes a beam just 0.1 nanometers wide, roughly the diameter of a single hydrogen atom. This atomic-scale resolution is about 135 times finer than EUV light. The promise is the ability to fabricate transistors at what founder Bodil Holst calls “ultimately atomic resolution,” though scaling the technology for mass production remains the central challenge.
Beyond Atomico and M12, the funding round attracted Linse Capital, the Norwegian state climate investment fund Nysnø, and the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation. The company has built prototype systems and is targeting a test tool for a pilot chip fabrication plant around 2029. It shared its research progress at a key industry conference in early 2026.
The founding team brings a deep academic background to the venture. CEO Bodil Holst is a Danish-Norwegian physicist who built her career at the University of Bergen, specializing in nanoscale imaging and molecular-beam lithography. She maintains an affiliated professorship while leading the startup. CTO Adria Salvador Palau, her former PhD student, completed his doctorate at Bergen and now operates from Barcelona.
Lace’s emergence coincides with a global push to diversify the semiconductor supply chain. Geopolitical tensions and soaring demand for AI hardware have spurred massive investment in alternative technologies. ASML’s dominance is not just commercial but politically charged, as evidenced by Dutch export controls on EUV machines to China.
This context lends Lace’s work significant strategic value. A credible, long-term alternative to EUV lithography carries weight for governments and investors looking to reduce technological dependencies. The composition of its investor base, blending European venture capital with state-affiliated funds from Norway and Spain, indicates support driven as much by geopolitical optionality as by pure commercial potential.
(Source: The Next Web)