Black Semiconductor secured €254.4M for its graphene-based chip-interconnect technology
Backed by €228.7M from the German government and €25.7M private investors as part of a major €254.4 million Series A round, Black Semiconductor aims to commercialize its groundbreaking graphene-based chip connectivity technology.
Tech sovereignty and semiconductors are the hottest topics in the era of AI, and Black Semiconductor's €254.4 million Series A is a story that touches on both subjects. Black Semiconductor's funding round is one of the largest raised by a European startup working in semiconductors and for good reason: €228.7 million from the total amount comes from Germany’s federal government and North Rhine-Westphalia as a combination of equity and funding based on the “Important Project of Common European Interest” (IPCEI) provision. The IPCEI comprises €8.1 billion in state aid destined to support research and development in microelectronics and communication technologies.
Black Semiconductor is still years away from being capable of commercial production. Moreover, several things could not turn out as planned due to the groundbreaking nature of the company's research. Still, Black Semiconductor's success would inch Europe closer to sovereignty, making that sizeable investment a risk worth taking. The remaining funds were raised in a more traditional equity round co-led by Porsche Ventures and Project A Ventures, with support from Scania Growth, Capnamic, TechVision Fonds, and NRW.BANK, and the participation of existing investors Vsquared Ventures, Cambium Capital, and Onsight Ventures.
Aside from helping Europe reach technological sovereignty, Porche's investment in the startup indicates that data centers, hyper scalers, and their customers are no longer the only big buyers in the market. Automotive companies have an increasingly larger stake in the market as vehicles integrate more connectivity dependent on cloud technologies. Black Semiconductor's technology could become a game changer for data centers looking to improve margins, mitigate expenses, and scale to meet customer demand. More generally, Black Semiconductor's graphene-based technology could shed new light on a satisfactory solution to the problem of connecting chips, an issue not even NVIDIA has solved completely.
