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Dutch nanoimprint lithography startup Morphotonics has raised €40 million from 3M Ventures, the EIC Fund and other investors, TechCrunch reports. The company plans to expand into optical components for data centres, linking chipmaking technology to the infrastructure powering the AI boom.

Why it matters

That makes this more than another startup funding round. Nanoimprint lithography is a competing approach to patterning materials, while data-centre optics are becoming increasingly important as AI systems push more traffic between processors and memory. Morphotonics’ next challenge is turning fresh capital and an ambitious expansion plan into components that customers can actually deploy. The €40 million is a useful signal of investor interest, not proof that the company has displaced established lithography players.

Discuss: Should investors prioritise alternative chipmaking and optical technologies now, before data-centre bottlenecks become acute, or wait for clearer evidence that startups can manufacture at scale?

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