Black Semiconductor, a start-up based in Aachen, Germany, announced €254.4 million in funding, marking one of the largest investments for a deep tech company manufacturing chips in Europe to date.
The company is targeting optical chip-to-chip connections using graphene as an intermediate layer to integrate optics with electronics. Black Semiconductor asserts that graphene, a material just one atom thick and known for its superior optical, electrical, and thermal properties, is key to enabling the co-integration of electronics and optics. "Graphene outperforms any other material system, opening the door to products that were previously inaccessible," the company stated. "Our solution combines computing with electrons and communication with photons, which we believe could enable parallel optical chip connectivity over distances of up to kilometers."
Black Semiconductor has secured €228.7 million in public funding from the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia over the next seven years under the IPCEI ME/CT2 program. Additionally, the company has raised €25.7 million in equity funding. This round was led by Porsche Ventures and Project A Ventures, with participation from leading venture capital firms, corporates, and industry leaders including Scania Growth Capital, Capnamic, Tech Vision Fonds, and NRW.BANK, joining the seed round investors Vsquared Ventures, Cambium Capital, and Hermann Hauser’s Onsight Ventures.
Founded in 2020 by Dr. Daniel Schall and Sebastian Schall, Black Semiconductor plans to use the new capital to accelerate its R&D initiatives and establish pilot line manufacturing capabilities in Aachen by 2026—an essential step towards its long-term goal of producing and implementing high-quality graphene in Europe. The company also aims to increase its headcount from 30 to 120 by 2026.
