Cnuic, an Edinburgh-based photonic chip manufacturing startup, has raised £2.2 million in a pre-seed round led by Tensor Ventures, with participation from Blank Space Ventures, Silicon Roundabout Ventures, Phasechange, SANDS, and Superlative. It has developed a working prototype of a new type of photolithography device that uses the properties of light to enable rapid, reconfigurable production of photonic chips with enhanced 3D control.
The semiconductor industry is facing a transformation as silicon chips approach their physical limits. Photonic chips transmit data using photons rather than electrons, offering higher transmission speeds without overheating, but their adoption has been limited by technological complexity and high manufacturing costs. Cnuic’s technology aims to address these barriers by enabling a new scale of photonic chip production, supporting applications such as data centres, AI model training, and a range of light-based systems including metalenses, 3D photonic crystals, AR and VR waveguides, and flexible gratings.
The development could enable global technology companies to operate data centres with lower cooling and electricity costs, while also accelerating AI model training by removing communication bottlenecks between processors. The underlying technology also expands possibilities for other photonic applications that rely on precise light manipulation.
From an industry perspective, the technology represents a step change that could shift the balance of power in the global chip industry in Europe’s favour. It is described as a major breakthrough in photonic manufacturing, with potential significance comparable to earlier milestones in semiconductor development.
Every major leap in human capability has come from learning to use a new medium better. We learned to use electrons. Now we are learning to use light. Cnuic is building the tools that make that possible at scale.
Cnuic’s technology can democratise the production of photonic chips in much the same way that PCs democratised computing power. From a deep tech perspective, this is a completely new technology and a major breakthrough that could mean a whole new role for Europe in the semiconductor industry.
