TLDR: Nearfield Instruments secures €135 million in landmark deep-tech funding round
– Nearfield Instruments announced the successful closure of a €135 million Series-C funding round led by major investors.
– The funding will enable Nearfield to ramp up production capacity, expand their product portfolio, and strengthen their position in the semiconductor equipment industry.
Nearfield Instruments, a developer of Metrology & Inspection solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry, secured €135 million in Series-C funding. The funding round was oversubscribed and led by new major investors Walden Catalyst and Temasek. The company’s QUADRA 3D metrology system has been fully integrated into the first major high-volume semiconductor manufacturing fab, solidifying Nearfield’s pioneering role in advancing critical metrology for leading-edge nodes. The funding will enable Nearfield to meet the growing demand for Metrology & Inspection in the industry. The investment round is the second largest in the semiconductor fabrication equipment market in Europe and the US in the past 5 years. Young Sohn from Walden Catalyst emphasized the importance of process control tools for the high-volume manufacturing of next-generation semiconductors, highlighting the critical role of Nearfield’s metrology solutions. The Netherlands-based scale-up is embedded in the strong Dutch ecosystem of semiconductor innovation and investments, with the industry expected to reach USD 1 trillion in global revenue by 2029. The funding round is the largest deep-tech investment round in the Netherlands, further solidifying the country’s leading position in semiconductors globally. Nearfield’s Chairman, Eric Meurice, expressed excitement about accelerating efforts to provide unique solutions for the industry’s metrology and inspection needs, emphasizing the importance of process control and yield improvement in the global industry. Nearfield Instruments, a spin-off of Dutch research institute TNO, is focused on providing nanometrology solutions for advanced 3D memory and logic devices. With the new funding, Nearfield aims to expand their product portfolio and strengthen their global position in the semiconductor equipment industry.
