BEAM Technologies raises ¥220M seed to make semiconductors in space
What's the deal? Tokyo-based BEAM TechnologiesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a startup spun out of Japan's RikenDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → research institute, has closed a seed round of 220,000,000 JPY (roughly $1.4 million).
The funding will go toward building a platform to manufacture semiconductors in the microgravity of space.
Investors include UntroD Capital JapanDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, DG Daiwa VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Shinnichi KogyoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Gogin CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, alongside angels Yusuke Kinoshita and Takahiro NakamuraDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a former chief operating officer at lunar lander firm ispaceDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
Why now? AI and faster communications are pushing demand for higher-performance chips, but ground-based manufacturing is hitting material and structural limits.
On Earth, gravity causes convection and particle settling during crystal growth, creating defects that hurt chip yield and uniformity. In microgravity, that convection is largely suppressed, allowing more uniform, defect-free crystals.
Plunging launch costs have also made manufacturing in space a realistic commercial play rather than a state-scale project.
What could go wrong? Making semiconductors in orbit remains unproven and technically daunting.
BEAM still has to move from simulation and lab results to working hardware in space, then prove it can do so at commercial scale and cost. The startup, founded in March 2022, has yet to show the model works beyond the ground.
The signal: The cap table mixes investment funds like DG Daiwa Ventures and Gogin Capital with corporate backers such as steel-pipe maker Shinnichi Kogyo, signalling that BEAM is courting manufacturing partners as much as capital. For an early-stage Riken spinout built on world-leading AlGaN crystal-growth work, the bet is whether that deep-tech edge can survive the leap from lab simulation to commercial production in orbit.
Read more: PR TIMES
Image credit: BEAM Technologies
