Chipmaking tool firm Nearfield Instruments raises $380 million at $1.6 billion valuation
Fidelity Management & Research Company led the round as Nearfield expands manufacturing and customer support amid rising demand for AI chip metrology.
- On Monday, Netherlands-based Nearfield Instruments announced it raised $380 million in funding, bringing its valuation to $1.6 billion and making it a unicorn—the largest investment round ever in a Dutch deep-tech firm.
- Founded in 2016 as a spin-off from TNO, Nearfield builds atomic force microscopes to detect chip imperfections as manufacturers pack more than 100 billion transistors onto single chips, driving demand for precision measurement tools.
- US investment firm Fidelity led the funding round, joined by new backers Singapore's Temasek and the Qatar Investment Authority, alongside existing shareholders TNO Ventures and Walden Catalyst Ventures, where Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is a partner.
- Nearfield Co-founder and CEO Hamed Sadeghian said the capital will fund research and manufacturing expansion, with the company opening a new production line in Rotterdam this week to meet significant customer demand.
- Measurement and inspection are becoming as critical to chip manufacturing as lithography, the field dominated by ASML, Sadeghian said, positioning the Netherlands to build a dominant position in the chip supply chain.
13 Articles
13 Articles
Nearfield Instruments, a company specializing in advanced semiconductor 3D metrology and process control, announced on the 22nd that it has raised $380 million in Series D funding. In this round, Nearfield was valued at $1.6 billion, marking the largest investment ever raised by a Dutch deep tech company.
Rotterdam-based maker of measurement systems for chips, Nearfield Instruments, has raised $380 million (€331 million) in investments. This values the company at $1.6 billion. With the funds, Nearfield plans to further develop its products, scale up production, and expand operations abroad, among other things, says CEO Hamed Sadeghian.
The quiet chip superpower: How the Netherlands is building the backbone of AI semiconductor era
Rotterdam-based Nearfield Instruments has closed a $380 million Series D at a $1.6 billion valuation — the largest deeptech raise in Dutch history. The round is the latest signal that the Netherlands is assembling a full semiconductor stack, from chip design to manufacturing inspection, that no other European country can match. Fidelity, Qatar Investment Authority, and Temasek are among the backers — sovereign and institutional money that rarely…
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