Nexstrom, a Singapore-based semiconductor company, has raised US$12 million (RM49 million) in a seed round led by Xora Innovation, with participation from Foothill Ventures and SEEDS. The funding brings Nexstrom’s total capital raised to US$15 million (RM61 million), including US$3 million (RM12 million) in non-dilutive funds, and will accelerate commercialisation of its 12-inch wafer-scale 2D semiconductor platform.
The company says the investment will speed development of its wafer-scale 2D semiconductor platform and support collaborations with industry partners to validate the technology within existing chip manufacturing workflows, aiming for the industry’s first 12-inch 2D wafer growth on production-ready manufacturing tools.
As AI workloads increase demand for faster, more energy-efficient computing, Nexstrom positions its platform as a response to limits in silicon scaling. The company highlights that atomically thin, single-crystal 2D materials can offer more precise electron control and reduced energy loss at the transistor level while remaining compatible with advanced foundry manufacturing.
“Silicon has fueled decades of computing innovation, but the industry now needs a new materials platform to continue scaling performance,” said Dr. Lance Li, co-founder and chief scientist.
12-inch wafer-scale 2D semiconductor platform and manufacturing approach
Nexstrom describes its offering as a full-stack solution that integrates proprietary chemical vapour deposition (CVD) hardware, process technology and wafer-scale 2D material growth within a foundry’s existing workflow. The company contrasts this approach with existing methods that produce only small laboratory samples or require changes to foundry processes, and says its combination of equipment, specialised chemistry and manufacturing expertise enables continuous single-crystal 2D material growth across industry-standard 12-inch wafers.
Nexstrom was incubated through Xora’s venture-building model to bridge the gap between academic research and commercial semiconductor manufacturing. The firm states this model helped it develop a practical path to manufacturing wafer-scale single-crystal 2D semiconductors that chipmakers can integrate into advanced foundry workflows.
The company’s technical team is anchored by Dr. Lance Li, a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher since 2018 and a pioneer in single-crystal MoS2 growth since 2012, who previously led corporate research at TSMC on post-silicon electronics. Nexstrom’s board and advisory group include Dr. Sundar Ramamurthy, Dr. Philip Wong, Dr. Aaron Thean and Dr. John Langan.
“The question is no longer whether 2D semiconductors matter. They are already on the technology roadmap of major semiconductor companies. The challenge is making them manufacturable,” said Dr. Philip Wong, board advisor at Nexstrom and Inez Kerr Bell Professor at Stanford University.
The new funding will support ongoing platform development, strategic collaborations with semiconductor foundries, and expansion of Nexstrom’s engineering and leadership teams as the company advances high-performance, low-power chips for AI, data centres and future computing applications.
