Chipmaking tool firm Nearfield Instruments raises $380 million at $1.6 billion valuation

By Stephen Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO, ‌June 22 (Reuters) - ​Nearfield ​Instruments, a Netherlands-based firm whose machines help measure the features on advanced semiconductors, said on Monday it ‌raised $380 million in new funding, bringing its valuation to $1.6 ⁠billion.

Nearfield makes devices called atomic force microscopes, which can take direct measurements ‌of features of chips ‌that are only a few atoms tall by dragging a probe across their surface, similar to how a needle moves ​across a vinyl record.

Those measurements are taken periodically during the hundreds of steps to make a chip to ensure ⁠that the manufacturing process is on track, a field called semiconductor metrology, which ​is dominated by KLA Corp.

Nearfield Co-founder and CEO Hamed Sadeghian said the funding will go toward expanding ​manufacturing and customer support operations amid a ‌boom in AI chipmaking.

He declined to name specific customers but said Nearfield's tools are already in ⁠use by advanced chipmakers.

"We have significant demand for our systems from our customers in front of us, and we want to deliver ⁠on that demand," Sadeghian said. "That means increasing the productivity of our production ​line, increasing the capacity of production, reducing the lead times."

Fidelity Management & Research Company led the funding round, along with Temasek, Innovation Industries, M&G, Invest-NL ‌and Walden Catalyst Ventures, the venture capital firm where Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is a ‌founding managing partner.

Nearfield Instruments said Qatar Investment Authority participated in the ⁠round as a new ‌investor, with existing investors ​TNO Ventures and ING also taking part.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Varun H ‌K)

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