Singapore’s Nexstrom wants to bring 2D semiconductors to chip fabs

For decades, chipmakers have sought to make semiconductors faster by shrinking down silicon transistors and packing more of them on each chip. But shrinking transistors comes with its own problems: controlling electron flow becomes harder, which exacerbates problems such as leakage, power loss and heat.

Nexstrom , a semiconductor startup incubated by Xora Innovation , thinks using two-dimensional (2D) materials instead of silicon is one viable way to solve that problem, especially as the global component shortage driven by demand for data centers shows no signs of letting up.

The Singapore-based company is building equipment and processes that would let foundries manufacture extremely thin semiconductors, known as transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), directly on chip wafers.