QuantumDiamonds Secures €76 Million in Funding to Revolutionize Chip Inspection

The European Chips Act has taken a significant step forward in fostering the semiconductor industry, with QuantumDiamonds being one of the key beneficiaries. The German startup has been granted €76 million in non-dilutive funding by the European Commission, the German federal economy ministry, and the state of Bavaria. This investment will be used to set up a new facility for the production of semiconductor testing equipment in Munich as part of a $178 million investment plan.

QuantumDiamonds is a spinout from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and its technology has gained significant attention in the industry. The company’s CEO, Kevin Berghoff, explained that the startup has been able to demonstrate customer pull, which has enabled it to raise a €15 million equity round led by VC firm World Fund. The round was also backed by Bayern Kapital and existing investors, including Creator Fund, Earlybird, First Momentum, IQ Capital, Onsight Ventures, and UnternehmerTUM.

The company’s technology uses synthetic diamonds to inspect chips, which enables it to detect defects through all layers without destroying the chip. This is particularly relevant as chips are increasingly multi-layered, and startups such as Semron have been developing 3D chips. Berghoff emphasized that the industry agrees that this is the way to go for AI data centers, as the transistors cannot get smaller, so in order to get the same power and the same compute, you start to add more and more layers.

QuantumDiamonds has already started to make a name for itself in the industry, with clients such as Taiwan-based Foundries and Korea’s Memory Makers. The company claims that it can help its clients save hundreds of millions of dollars by compressing a defect detection process that usually takes weeks into a two-minute inspection that doesn’t stop production lines. This means that its hardware is typically paid back entirely within a couple of months, leaving room to cover the subscription fee that the startup charges for on-site support and for its software, which interprets the data and usually gives clients a strong indication of what they should address in their manufacturing process.

Behind the scenes, QuantumDiamonds’ technology is based on quantum sensing, which is already operational in its ability to generate magnetic fields that detect defects with high precision. Berghoff emphasized that customers don’t care about the quantum aspect of the technology, but rather the fact that it works. The company is already out of the lab and on its way to moving from its clients’ labs to their fabs, the semiconductor manufacturing plants.

QuantumDiamonds is not the only company that has gained significant attention in the industry. World Fund managing partner Daria Saharova wrote in a statement that QuantumDiamonds can become Europe’s next ASML, a Dutch company that has a near-monopoly on manufacturing the machines used for chipmaking. However, Berghoff candidly mentioned that ASML might buy QuantumDiamonds at some point, although ASML has recently stated that it isn’t too keen on M&As.

For the time being, QuantumDiamonds is focusing on expanding its team and operations. The company plans to double its engineering team over the next 12 months, taking advantage of affordable talent both with quantum and with semiconductor expertise. This will enable the company to move from its lab environment to high-throughput testing, where it can do 100% quality control in the fab itself.

The new funding will also generate jobs in Munich, where most of QuantumDiamonds’ team of 70 people is based. Berghoff and his co-founder and CTO, Fleming Bruckmaier, are confident that the company will continue to grow and expand its operations in the future.

Key Facts:

• QuantumDiamonds has been granted €76 million in non-dilutive funding by the European Commission, the German federal economy ministry, and the state of Bavaria.
• The company has raised a €15 million equity round led by VC firm World Fund.
• QuantumDiamonds’ technology uses synthetic diamonds to inspect chips, which enables it to detect defects through all layers without destroying the chip.
• The company claims that it can help its clients save hundreds of millions of dollars by compressing a defect detection process that usually takes weeks into a two-minute inspection that doesn’t stop production lines.
• QuantumDiamonds is planning to double its engineering team over the next 12 months, taking advantage of affordable talent both with quantum and with semiconductor expertise.