Semiconductor today

Polar Light Technologies AB — which stems from research by founder professor Per-Olof Holtz and his team at Linköping University (with support from Sweden’s innovation agency Vinnova) — has closed a €5m+ funding round led by J2L Holding AB, with participation from STOAF, Almi Invest and Butterfly Ventures . The additional funds will advance the rollout of Polar Light’s initial products, all based on its unique micro-LED architecture. This uses pyramidal structures grown without etching, enabling full RGB on a single epiwafer...

Materials, networking and laser technology firm Coherent Corp of Saxonburg, PA, USA and quantum technology company Quside have reached a milestone in hardware-based security with the demonstration of a mass-manufacturable quantum entropy source. This shows that fast, verifiable quantum entropy — an essential foundation for secure digital systems — can be embedded at scale, supporting next-generation security architectures across a wide range of applications...

Cree LED Inc of Durham, NC, USA (a Penguin Solutions brand) and Blizzard Lighting LLC have reached a mutually beneficial settlement resolving a patent infringement dispute involving Cree LED’s patents related to LED components commonly used in LED displays. As part of the settlement, Cree LED has granted Blizzard a limited license to certain Cree LED patents covering LED components...

NUBURU Inc of Centennial, CO, USA — which was founded in 2015 and developed and previously manufactured high-power industrial blue lasers — has completed its acquisition of Lyocon S.r.l., an Italian laser-technology company specializing in the design, manufacturing and integration of high-power blue laser systems for industrial applications, with established operations, customers and recurring revenues. The transaction was completed through Nuburu Subsidiary Inc...

NUBURU Inc of Centennial, CO, USA — which was founded in 2015 and developed and previously manufactured high-power industrial blue lasers — has announced a significant advancement in its strategic partnership with Tekne S.p.A., following the execution of (i) a comprehensive industrial and commercial network contract (contratto di rete) through NUBURU’s defense subsidiary Nuburu Defense LLC, (ii) a €13m shareholder convertible loan, and (iii) the completion of an initial 2.9% equity investment in Tekne...

LIGENTEC SA of Lausanne, Switzerland – which provides silicon nitride (SiN) and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platforms with heterogeneous integration of thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) and III-V materials – and analog/mixed-signal and specialty foundry X-FAB Silicon Foundries SE of Tessenderlo, Belgium have expanded their collaboration to further strengthen their integrated photonics offering and streamline customer access to advanced photonic technologies. The announcement marks the next step in aligning their portfolios to address growing demand across communication, computing, quantum and sensing markets...

Singulus Technologies AG of Kahl am Main, Germany (which makes production equipment for the optical disc and solar sectors) has received a follow-on order for a TIMARIS deposition system for the production of micro-LEDs. Following the commissioning of a first system of this type by the customer, the firm is now expanding its existing production capacities in the USA...

At SPIE Photonics West 2026 in The Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA, USA (20–22 January), micro/nanotechnology R&D center CEA-Leti of Grenoble, France is presenting new research highlighting major progress in the integration of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) with silicon photonic platforms for mid-infrared (MIR) applications...

Materials, networking and laser technology firm Coherent Corp of Saxonburg, PA, USA has launched its bondable diamond solutions for thermal management: a diamond solution engineered with a specialized surface finish that enables direct bonding to semiconductor die for electronic and opto-electronic applications. By eliminating or dramatically reducing thermal interface resistance, bondable diamond significantly improves device cooling performance...

For coverage of all the key business and technology developments in compound semiconductors and advanced silicon materials and devices over the last month...

Photonic chip industry accelerator PhotonDelta of Eindhoven, the Netherlands (which connects and collaborates with an ecosystem of photonic chip technology organizations worldwide) has launched its second global engineering contest in collaboration with SIEMENS company Wevolver (a global knowledge and community platform for engineers and tech companies) to stimulate the creation of new applications for photonic chips that tackle global challenges...

ALLOS Semiconductors GmbH of Dresden, Germany — which provides 200mm and 300mm gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si) epiwafers focused on micro-LED applications, as well as licensing IP and transferring the technology — and Ennostar Corp of Hsinchu, Taiwan (a provider of integrated optoelectronic solutions, specializing in R&D and manufacturing III-V materials) have announced a strategic partnership to bring 200mm GaN-on-Si LED epiwafers for micro-LED applications into volume production. The collaboration is said to represent a milestone in establishing a silicon fab-compatible supply chain for micro-LED products...

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system maker Riber S.A. of Bezons, France has received an order for an MBE 6000 production system from Japan’s QD Laser Inc, which was founded in 2006 after collaboration between Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd and the University of Tokyo and specializes in developing, manufacturing and commercializing quantum dot lasers and advanced optoelectronic devices...

Canada-based nuclear fuel cycle and critical minerals company Snow Lake Resources Ltd (trading as Snow Lake Energy) has reached an agreement with Canadian Uranium Corp to extend the existing option agreement with respect to the Mound Lake Gallium Project, situated north of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada...

In booth 3452 at SPIE Photonics West 2026 in San Francisco, CA, USA (20–22 January), photonic simulation CAD software developer Photon Design Ltd of Oxford, UK is highlighting its latest innovations, HAROLD (QD), MT-FIMMPROP and EPIPPROP. The firm’s simulation tools will also be featured in academic presentations and commercial demonstrations elsewhere at the show...

III–V Epi Ltd of Glasgow, Scotland, UK — which provides a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) service for custom compound semiconductor wafer design, manufacturing, test and characterization — is showcasing its specialist, low-volume, fast-turnaround, III-V epitaxy manufacturing services in booth 4923 at SPIE Photonics West 2026 in San Francisco, CA, USA (20–22 January)...

At SPIE Photonics West 2026 in San Francisco (20-22 January), Lumentum Holdings Inc of San Jose, CA, USA (which designs and makes photonics products for optical networks and lasers for industrial and consumer markets) is showcasing high-power ultrafast, UV, and 3D sensing laser solutions designed to meet the growing precision, throughput and reliability demands of advanced manufacturing and sensing applications...

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved €90m in financing to multi-national industrial and energy company METLEN Energy & Metals S.A. of Athens, Greece — which operates the only vertically integrated bauxite, alumina and primary aluminium production unit in the European Union (EU) with privately owned port facilities — supporting strategic investments at the company’s historic Aluminium of Greece industrial complex in Central Greece. The financing is aimed at strengthening the European Union’s supply of bauxite and gallium, two critical raw materials essential for Europe’s green and digital transitions...

For its fiscal first-quarter 2026 (ended 30 November 2025), LED chip and component maker SemiLEDs Corp of Hsinchu, Taiwan has reported revenue of $2.6m, down on $13.2m last quarter but double that of $1.261m a year ago...

On 21 January, Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Electric Corp will starting shipping samples of four new trench silicon carbide metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (SiC MOSFET) bare dies designed for use in power electronics equipment, such as electric vehicle (EV) traction inverters, onboard chargers, and power supply systems for renewable energy sources including solar power. The new power semiconductor bare dies will contribute to efforts to embed advanced bare dies in various power electronics equipment to lower power consumption while maintaining performance...