MetaOptics looks to expand US production with $10M warrant deal

MetaOptics, the Singapore-based developer of glass metalenses, says it has secured $10 million in finance that it will use to scale production of the components in the US.

Provided by California’s White Lion Capital, the planned investment comes a year after MetaOptics listed on Singapore’s SGX stock exchange, during which time the firm has revealed plans to establish a foundry in the Silicon Valley region.

The company claims to be the first in the industry to achieve mass production capability with color metalenses on 12-inch glass substrates, and had previously been targeting emerging applications in smart phones, contactless 3D biometrics modules, pocket projectors, lidar sensors, and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) devices.

“White Lion's investment will not just support ongoing projects with US customers across consumer devices, co-packaged optics (CPO), and optical interconnects, but more importantly, fund the establishment of [our] maiden front-end semiconductor fabrication line with 12-inch deep-UV immersion photolithography equipment in the US, for the mass production of metalenses and modules,” stated MetaOptics.

“[This] will not only on-shore key metalens design, manufacturing, and testing into the US, bringing such capabilities closer to US customers, but also provide a shorter and clearer roadmap to securing purchase orders for the mass production of metalenses and modules.” 

$1BN addressable market by 2030

With the US expected to become a key market for metalens adoption across both consumer electronics and AI data center verticals, MetaOptics says it is currently working with several US partners to integrate metalenses within their CPO designs.

The smallest CPO metalens designed by MetaOptics measures just 0.1 mm, while production can be scaled using a semiconductor photolithography process on 12-inch glass substrates - seen as the key to achieving mass production.

The firm’s executive chairman CEO Thng Chong Kim said: “Many of our most important customers are in the US. This funding allows us to move faster on their projects and to onshore key metalens technology into the US.”

Gabriel Gumbiner, a senior associate at White Lion, added: "MetaOptics is one of the few companies in the world that can design, mass-produce and test glass-based metalenses at scale.

“We are particularly pleased that our first investment in an SGX-listed company is with an organization of MetaOptics’ caliber. The company has a strong management team with a clear vision for its growth, and we are proud to support MetaOptics as it expands its presence in the US market.”

The White Lion investment comes in the form of a warrant deed that would raise up to $10 million through the issuance of up to 40 million new ordinary shares.

MetaOptics claims in a recent investor presentation that it is able to produce more than ten metalens wafers per hour using the DUV immersion photolithography process, and that it can fabricate monochrome wide-angle metalens with nanostructured features as small as 80 nm.

It also cited market research suggesting that the total addressable market for optical metalenses will grow from around $100 million today to nearly $1 billion by the end of the decade.

Within the past couple of months the company has agreed to deploy its metalens direct laser writer system at both the University of Arizona’s Center of Semiconductor Manufacturing, and the nano@stanford research facility in the San Francisco Bay Area.