Helium Beam Chip Tech Attracts $40M from Atomico and Microsoft

A University of Bergen physicist’s startup, Lace Lithography, has secured $40 million in Series A funding led by Atomico with participation from Microsoft’s M12 venture arm. The company is developing a radical new approach to chip manufacturing that replaces traditional extreme ultraviolet light with a beam of helium atoms, achieving feature sizes up to ten times smaller than current lithography allows. The technology uses a beam narrower than a single hydrogen atom to etch circuits with unprecedented precision. While the semiconductor industry has long relied on increasingly complex optical systems to push miniaturization limits, this atomic-scale method could reset the roadmap for processor density. Industry analysts point to potential ripple effects across AI hardware, quantum computing, and high-performance chip design if the technique scales commercially. The investment comes as global chip fabrication capacity remains constrained and geopolitical tensions over semiconductor supply chains intensify. In related developments, nuclear energy startups are also seeing renewed investor interest as power demands for advanced computing grow.