en.Wedoany.com Reported - German quantum sensing startup QuantumDiamonds has secured €76 million in non-dilutive funding and €15 million in equity financing to build a semiconductor testing equipment production facility in Munich. Incubated by the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the company's technology can compress chip defect detection time from weeks to two minutes without halting production lines. CEO Kevin Berghoff stated that this is precisely one of the first practical applications of quantum technology, yet customers "don't care at all whether it's quantum technology."
Europe is supporting the semiconductor industry through the European Chips Act. With approval from the European Commission, QuantumDiamonds has received €76 million in non-dilutive funding from Germany's Federal Ministry of Economics and the state of Bavaria. As part of its previously announced $178 million investment plan, the company will use these funds to build a new testing equipment production facility in Munich.
The €15 million equity round was led by venture capital firm World Fund, with participation from Bayern Kapital and existing investors Creator Fund, Earlybird, First Momentum, IQ Capital, Onsight Ventures, and UnternehmerTUM. QuantumDiamonds declined to disclose its valuation, but CEO Kevin Berghoff noted that the fundraising process was relatively swift because the company could demonstrate customer traction. Berghoff said, "We are working with almost every company in the chip ecosystem."
QuantumDiamonds' technology leverages the quantum sensing properties of synthetic diamonds to detect defects by observing the magnetic fields generated by electrical currents in chips. Unlike current destructive testing methods that use microscopes to inspect the top layer of chips, this technology can penetrate all chip layers without causing damage. Berghoff noted that this capability is particularly important as chips become multi-layered, such as the 3D chips developed by startup Semron, because "transistors can't get any smaller, so to achieve the same power and computing capability, you start adding more and more layers."
The company's testing solutions can help Taiwanese foundries and Korean memory manufacturers save hundreds of millions of dollars. Berghoff stated that its hardware typically pays for itself within one to two months. The company also charges subscription fees for on-site support and data interpretation software, which advises customers on issues to address during the manufacturing process.
QuantumDiamonds has moved out of the lab and is transitioning from customer laboratories to wafer fabs. Berghoff revealed that the company currently has tools for laboratory environments capable of sample-based testing; the next goal is to achieve high-throughput testing for 100% quality inspection within wafer fabs. Lab tools are priced in the millions of dollars, while high-throughput systems could cost between $10 million and $15 million. Berghoff compared this to ASML's machines, which can be worth $400 million, so "while expensive, we are quite cheap for them."
World Fund Managing Partner Daria Saharova stated in a press release that QuantumDiamonds has the potential to become Europe's next ASML. Berghoff also acknowledged that ASML is interested in further expanding into the testing field and might acquire the company at some point, although ASML recently expressed less enthusiasm for mergers and acquisitions. In 2026, QuantumDiamonds is advancing its international expansion, having opened a regional center in Taiwan and completed its first commercial deployments in Taiwan and the United States, including installing a system at Eurofins EAG Laboratories in Sunnyvale, California. The company currently employs around 70 people and plans to double its engineering team within the next 12 months. Berghoff and co-founder and CTO Fleming Bruckmaier stated, "We have everything we need to ship overseas."
