Dutch chip equipment startup Nearfield raises $148 million

Dutch chip equipment startup Nearfield Instruments said it has raised $147.6 million (135 million euros) to ramp up production and bring several tools to market more quickly.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Nearfield has developed chipmaking tools designed to measure and inspect silicon wafers to ensure the chips printed on them meet manufacturing standards. The conventional techniques to do so have reached their limits, Nearfield said, and its machines are necessary to ensure that chip production yield remains high with the most advanced processes needed to manufacture artificial intelligence processors.