BEAM Raises ¥220M for Space-Based Chip Platform

BEAM Technologies Inc., a startup originating from the RIKEN Institute, has completed a seed round of funding through a third-party allocation, raising a total of 220 million yen.

This round includes investments from professionals in the space, finance, and manufacturing sectors, including UntroD Capital Japan Co., Ltd., DG Daiwa Ventures Co., Ltd., Shin-Nichi Kogyo Co., Ltd., Yusuke Kinoshita, Takahiro Nakamura (CEO of Midtown Co., Ltd. / former Director and COO of ispace Co., Ltd.), and Gougin Capital Co., Ltd.

Our company has a team of engineers who have produced world-class compound semiconductor devices on Earth. With the backing of a strong group of investors, we will use the funds raised to fully launch our semiconductor manufacturing platform business utilizing microgravity environments.

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The rapid evolution of AI and advancements in communication infrastructure are driving the demand for unprecedented performance in semiconductors. However, existing terrestrial manufacturing processes are facing material and structural constraints, and limits to performance improvement are beginning to emerge. When growing semiconductor crystals on Earth, gravity-induced buoyancy convection and particle sedimentation have become factors in compositional inconsistencies and defects, posing a serious bottleneck that limits device yield and uniformity. On the other hand, in the microgravity environment of space, buoyancy convection is significantly suppressed, allowing for more uniform and defect-free, ideal crystal growth.

In addition, the dramatic decrease in launch costs in recent years has led to the “democratization of space,” and “manufacturing in space” is shifting from a national-scale project to a realistic private enterprise. Seizing this historic turning point, our company will make the most of open space as an industrial site and challenge ourselves to realize semiconductor crystals of a quality level that is difficult to achieve through terrestrial manufacturing.

SOURCE: PRTimes