Worried about chips? Buy your own plant!

Nanomaterials, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing

Sep 28, 2024

Good morning,

Welcome to the weekend! This week’s edition is all about semiconductors! The British government has bought a semiconductor fabrication plant to ensure it can provide necessary chips to its military as the United States DoD has made its final investment into minerals under the Inflation Reduction Act. TSMC’s plant in Arizona is now producing roughly the same amount as they are in Taiwan. Finally, India is getting its first semiconductor plant courtesy of Tata Electronics and PSMC.

Let’s go!

News Headlines:

Hurricane Helene lands in Florida as 14th most powerful storm to hit the US; weakens to Tropical Storm as it moves inland (BBC)
East coast longshoremen will likely strike starting next week, costing the economy up to $5B per day and threatening supply chains just in time for Christmas (CBS)
Ukraine discovers Starlink receiver on downed Russian Shahed drone (NW)

China is assembling an 'economic bazooka' (WSJ)

Nanotech and Advanced Materials

DoD makes its final Defense Production Act investment under Inflation Reduction Act appropriations to secure production of lithium iron phosphate cathodes (DoD)
Britain buys struggling gallium arsenide semiconductor factory to secure supply for military (RT)
TSMC's Arizona plant productivity on par with Taiwan (BBG)
TSMC, Samsung are in talks to invest ~$100B in UAE chip factories (WSJ)
Tata Electronics and PSMC to build India's first semiconductor fab for ~$11B (DCD)
Nanotech pioneer Wang Zhonglin leaves US to work in China 'full time' (SCMP)
Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization is developing protective suits for first responders and armed forces using nanofiber weaves (CSIRO)
Engineers at the University of Surrey have developed an ultra-thin sensor for smart contact lenses (TB)
Demand for novel materials surges (SCE)
2D silk protein layers on graphene pave the way for advanced microelectronics and computing (PHYS)
Biomimicry enhances strength and sustainability in polymer development (IL)
Engineers at Princeton use biomimicry modeled on human bones to make concrete 5.6 times stronger (TEx)
Rare earth elements found in extinct volcanoes, iron-rich magma good at concentrating the rare earths (SA)
Prototype pipes modeled after shark intestines outperform Tesla valves at controlling fluid flow (AT)

Advanced Manufacturing:

Rapid Fusion aims to expand UK additive manufacturing with new large-format 3D printer (ENG)
Ursa Major and U.S. Navy invest $25M in solid rocket motor manufacturing using additive manufacturing technologies (VM)
Additive Manufacturing's real benefit in defense proven in Ukraine to be enabling decentralization (ENG)
Additive's workforce growth stalls as industry faces challenges (3DP)
Metal AM company SPEE3D demonstrates cold-spray additive manufacturing tech to U.S. Army, printing a Bradley Fighting Vehicle's transmission mount (AUM)
SpaceX licenses Velo3D metal additive manufacturing tech in $8M deal (TCT)
U.S. Dept of Commerce issues new export controls on 3D printers, other tech to combat terrorism (3DPI)

Deal Flow:

AI chip startup Cerebras Systems is planning to raise $1B at a $7B-$8B valuation in a US IPO this week (BBG)

Pangaea Ventures closes $85M for impact fund focused on materials science, chemistry, and biology hard tech companies (BK)
Battery tech company Sila Nanotechnologies takes a $1B valuation haircut in latest funding round (BBG)

Nano Dimension will acquire 3D printer maker Markforged for $115M cash (GNW)
Cyclic Materials, a recycling startup for rare earth elements, raised a $53M Series B led by ArcTern Ventures (BW)

HyperLight Corporation, a leading provider of thin film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonic integrated circuits (PICs), raised a $37M Series B led by Summit Partners (BW)
Calyxia raises $35M to drive sustainable microcapsules and microparticles in a Series B funding round led by Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Bpifrance (WBMI)
Mosaic raises $28M led by Idealist Capital to accelerate additive manufacturing platforms on the factory floor (AM)
MetOx, a manufacturer of high-temperature superconducting wire, announces a $25M Series B extension adding Centaurus Capital and New System Ventures to the cap table (P2)
Tidal Metals raises a $8.5M seed round led by DCVC to build a commercial plant for carbon-neutral magnesium extraction from sea water (FSME)
Ephos, a glass-based photonic chips producer, announces an $8.5M seed round from the European Innovation Council and NATO's DIANA accelerator to open a manufacturing facility in Milan (QCR)
Swiss photonic chip maker Lightium raised $7M seed round co-led by Vsquared Ventures and Lakestar (FSME)

Bain-backed Japanese memory chipmaker Kioxia scrapped plans for a $500M local IPO amid a market slump (RT)

Opportunities

The U.K. gov't and industry are investing £65M to investigate new manufacturing processes to increase productivity and resource utilization (BIS)

DARPA is soliciting innovative proposals in the following technical areas: Advanced concepts for high-density three-dimensional chip-to-chip and intra-chip optical routing in integrated photonic microsystems (SAM)