Company Overview

Black Semiconductor GmbH is a semiconductor technology company headquartered in Aachen, Germany, focused on next-generation chip interconnect architectures. Rather than replacing silicon logic, the company’s strategy is to integrate graphene-based photonic devices directly onto conventional semiconductor platforms to enable optical communication between chips.

Corporate Information

Black Semiconductor originated as a spin-out from the AMO nanotechnology research center in Aachen and leverages more than two decades of European graphene and photonics research.

Mission

The company’s central thesis is that future computing performance will be limited less by transistor speed and more by data movement.

Current AI systems spend enormous energy moving data between:

• CPUs
• GPUs
• Accelerators
• Memory
• Storage
• Networking devices

Black Semiconductor aims to replace electrical chip-to-chip communication with graphene-enabled optical communication, reducing latency, energy consumption, and bandwidth bottlenecks.

Technical Foundation

The Interconnect Problem

Modern processors contain tens of billions of transistors.

However, system performance increasingly depends on:

Compute Performance
          +
Memory Bandwidth
          +
Interconnect Bandwidth

Today’s bottlenecks include:

• Copper trace losses
• Signal integrity degradation
• Heat generation
• Retimer overhead
• Package-level bandwidth limitations

These limitations become increasingly severe in:

• AI clusters
• HPC systems
• Data centers
• Autonomous vehicles
• Edge AI platforms

Black Semiconductor addresses this problem through optical rather than electrical communication.

Integrated Graphene Photonics™ (IGP™)

Concept

IGP™ integrates:

CMOS Electronics
        +
Graphene Photonics
        +
Optical Interconnects

onto the same semiconductor platform.

Instead of transmitting information through copper conductors, data is transmitted via photons.

The result:

Lower Power
Higher Bandwidth
Longer Reach
Lower Latency

while maintaining compatibility with standard semiconductor manufacturing processes.

Why Graphene?

Graphene is a single atomic layer of carbon arranged in a hexagonal lattice.

Key properties include:

Graphene functions as an active photonic material enabling:

• Electro-optic modulation
• Photodetection
• High-speed optical switching

that are difficult to achieve efficiently with silicon alone.

Device Architecture

Graphene Optical Modulator

A simplified modulator stack:

Waveguide
   │
Graphene Layer
   │
Dielectric
   │
Electrode

Operation:

1. Electrical signal applied
2. Graphene carrier density changes
3. Optical absorption changes
4. Light becomes modulated
5. Data transmitted optically

This creates a direct electrical-to-optical conversion mechanism.

Graphene Photodetector

Receive path:

Incoming Light
        ↓
 Graphene Detector
        ↓
 Electrical Signal
        ↓
 Logic Circuit

Advantages include:

• High bandwidth
• Broad wavelength sensitivity
• CMOS compatibility

Chip Fabric Architecture

Black Semiconductor frequently describes the concept of creating a “chip fabric.”

Instead of independent chips:

CPU
GPU
HBM
ASIC
FPGA

operating as separate entities,

IGP creates:

CPU ─────┐
GPU ─────┼── Optical Fabric
HBM ─────┤
ASIC ────┘

allowing many chips to behave as a single computational resource.

Wafer-Level Integration

A distinguishing characteristic of Black Semiconductor’s approach is full wafer-level integration.

Traditional Silicon Photonics

Electronic Chip
       +
External Optical Components

Integrated Graphene Photonics

Electronic Devices
       +
Photonic Devices
       +
Graphene Structures
       +
CMOS Process Flow

all fabricated within a unified semiconductor process.

Manufacturing Strategy

CMOS Compatibility

A major challenge for emerging semiconductor materials is manufacturability.

Black Semiconductor specifically targets:

• Existing CMOS fabs
• Existing semiconductor process flows
• Existing packaging ecosystems

This allows adoption without replacing established semiconductor infrastructure.

FabONE

Overview

FabONE is Black Semiconductor’s flagship manufacturing and development facility located in Aachen, Germany.

Facility characteristics:

• 15,000 m² fabrication space
• 2,000 m² office space
• Pilot production infrastructure
• Advanced cleanroom construction
• Graphene photonics process development center

FabONE is intended to become the world’s first production facility dedicated to graphene-based optical chip technology.

Roadmap

Graphene Supply Chain

Applied Nanolayers Acquisition

In March 2025 Black Semiconductor acquired Applied Nanolayers (ANL), a Dutch graphene materials specialist.

Strategic objectives:

• Secure graphene supply
• Vertical integration
• Accelerate development
• Improve process control

Capabilities gained include:

• Industrial 200 mm graphene wafer processing
• Wafer-scale graphene transfer
• High-volume graphene production expertise

The company states the acquisition accelerated technology development by approximately two years.

AI Infrastructure Applications

AI Training Clusters

Future AI systems require:

• Thousands of accelerators
• Massive memory bandwidth
• Low-latency communication

Optical interconnects can provide:

Higher Throughput
Lower Energy / Bit
Greater Scale

than copper-based approaches.

Potential use cases:

• LLM training
• Generative AI
• Inference clusters
• HPC supercomputers

Semiconductor Packaging Synergy

Black Semiconductor’s technology aligns with major industry trends:

Chiplets

Compute Chiplet
Memory Chiplet
I/O Chiplet
Optical Fabric

Advanced Packaging

• 2.5D integration
• Silicon interposers
• Glass interposers
• Co-packaged optics

Graphene photonics could eventually serve as the communication layer connecting chiplets inside advanced packages.

Funding and Strategic Importance

The company secured approximately €254.4 million in combined public and private funding.

Funding sources include:

• IPCEI Microelectronics program
• German Federal Government
• State of North Rhine-Westphalia
• Porsche Ventures
• Project A Ventures
• Additional European investors

The funding supports:

• FabONE construction
• Pilot manufacturing
• Graphene production
• Workforce expansion
• Commercialization of IGP technology

This represents one of the largest semiconductor deep-tech financings in Europe focused on graphene-enabled semiconductor technology.

Competitive Landscape

Black Semiconductor occupies a unique position between:

Unlike traditional silicon photonics vendors, Black Semiconductor’s differentiator is the use of graphene as the active photonic material integrated directly into CMOS-compatible manufacturing.

Long-Term Vision

Black Semiconductor’s long-term objective is to create a semiconductor platform in which:

Electronics
     +
Photonics
     +
Graphene Materials
     +
Advanced Packaging

form a unified computing fabric.

If successful, Integrated Graphene Photonics could become a foundational technology for:

• AI datacenters
• Exascale computing
• Autonomous systems
• Edge AI
• 6G infrastructure
• Future heterogeneous computing architectures

The company’s roadmap positions graphene photonics not as a replacement for CMOS, but as a scaling technology that extends semiconductor performance beyond the limits of electrical interconnects.