Munich-based QuantumDiamonds has closed a €91 million ($104 million) funding round to scale production of its quantum-based semiconductor inspection systems. The round combines €15 million in new equity led by climate-tech VC World Fund with €76 million in non-dilutive funding approved under the European Union's Chips Act, making QuantumDiamonds one of the first startups to receive manufacturing capital from the bloc's flagship semiconductor sovereignty program. According to the press release,the company builds nitrogen-vacancy diamond sensors capable of detecting subsurface defects in chips at the atomic level, a capability that traditional optical and electron microscopy cannot match.
Nine of the world's ten largest chipmakers are already engaged with QuantumDiamonds, and its systems are operational at fabrication facilities in Europe, the United States, and Taiwan. The funding will expand the company's Munich production facility and scale manufacturing capacity to meet surging demand from advanced-node chipmakers. As AI accelerators grow more complex and yields become more critical, quantum-sensing inspection is emerging as a bottleneck-busting technology for the semiconductor industry.