August 28, 2026
AlixLabs Sax Forma Beta Chamber Enters Final Assembly at VDL Projects
Lund, Sweden – August 28, 2026 – AlixLabs AB, a semiconductor equipment company specializing in advanced etch and patterning technologies, today announced that the assembly of its first Sax Forma Beta tool for Atomic Pitch Splitting, APS™, has commenced at VDL Projects, The Netherlands.
This milestone keeps AlixLabs on track to install the Sax Forma Beta tool in its own cleanroom by the end of 2026, enabling beta testing of APS™ for customers and partners.
The second Beta tool will enter the assembly phase as well before the end of this year. These developments are part of AlixLabs’ continued transition from technology validation toward deeper customer engagement, process integration, and industrial equipment deployment. Following the launch of Sax Forma, AlixLabs’ first commercially available APS™ System, the Sax Forma Beta tools represent the next step in preparing APS™ for evaluation in mass production environments.
“Starting the assembly of the Sax Forma Beta tool is an important commercial milestone for AlixLabs,” said Jonas Sundqvist, CEO at AlixLabs. “It means we are moving from demonstrating the core APS capability toward beta testing with customers where we can return contamination free wafers to the customer pilot lines and actual fabs. This is critical for process integration, showcasing manufacturing value, and the role APS can play in reducing patterning complexity and cutting cost for advanced semiconductor manufacturing.”
APS™ is designed as a complementary patterning system inserted downstream of established lithography-based process flows, including DUV, EUV, and nanoimprint lithography (NIL). By enabling controlled pitch splitting after the initial pattern has been defined, APS™ can increase pattern density without subsequent passes of lithography.
The Sax Forma Beta tools are being industrialized together with industry heavyweight VDL Projects, AlixLabs’ partner for system integration and high-tech equipment manufacturing. VDL Projects is supporting the transition of APS™ from advanced R&D and process validation into industrial equipment, drawing on its experience in design, engineering, realization, and scale-up of first-of-a-kind systems.
“Completing the design and engineering of the first-of-a-kind APS™ equipment on schedule has been a tremendous challenge,” said Sorin Stan, Senior Director for Emerging Technologies at VDL Projects. “We did not experience a single week of delay, which preserved the overall planning for the realization phase. The manufacturing and procurement of parts, the assembly currently underway, and the testing before shipment have been planned with half-day accuracy. This showcases our extensive experience in enabling ambitious, accelerated growth of both small and large companies at times when novel equipment is paramount to their success.”
Once installed in AlixLabs’ cleanroom, the Sax Forma Beta tools will support automated production-like APS™ demonstrations for customer evaluation, integration work, and validation on industry-relevant silicon design for logic and memory products at the advanced technology nodes. The beta testing will help semiconductor manufacturers assess how APS™ can be integrated into existing manufacturing flows while preserving fab infrastructure and reducing patterning complexity.
The Sax Forma Beta tools also support AlixLabs’ longer-term equipment roadmap, with additional deliveries scheduled for customers in 2027. The Beta tools also form an important step toward the company’s planned final high-volume manufacturing (HVM) Gamma platform targeted for 2028.
With the Sax Forma Beta tools now in full assembly, AlixLabs continues to advance APS™ toward commercial adoption as a semiconductor equipment platform for the Ångström era.
About AlixLabs
Established in 2019 in Lund, Sweden, AlixLabs emerged as a spin-off from Lund University with a mission to enable the cost-effective and energy-conscious fabrication of semiconductors, particularly logic and memory components. AlixLabs boasts patented recognition for its groundbreaking APS™ technique, a process that achieves nanostructure division through etching. This method holds approved patents across the USA, Taiwan, and Europe. The APS™ acronym signifies Atomic Pitch Splitting, leveraging ALE (Atomic Layer Etching), a plasma-based dry etching cyclic methodology. For more details, please visit www.alixlabs.com.
About VDL Projects
As part of VDL Groep of The Netherlands, VDL Projects has a proven track record in supporting innovative companies in the transition from the feasibility to the design, engineering, and realization of their equipment. With all needed expertise under one roof, VDL Projects scales up the equipment manufacturing from first-of-a-kind units to batch manufacturing, and further to turnkey realization of complex production lines. VDL Groep is an industrial conglomerate headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. It was founded in 1953 and consists currently of more than 100 specialized companies employing together more than 14,000 employees in 20 countries and operating in several industrial sectors. For more details, please visit https://www.vdlgroep.com/en.
August 6, 2026
AlixLabs Expands Footprint at RISE ProNano in Lund by 400 Square Meters
New capacity supports continued commercialization of APS™ technology and expanded beta testing for semiconductor customers.
LUND, Sweden — August 6, 2026 — AlixLabs AB, a Swedish semiconductor technology company pioneering Atomic Pitch Splitting, APS™, today announced that it is expanding its cleanroom space at the Lund-based RISE ProNano lab by 400 square meters.
The expansion is part of AlixLabs’ continuous growth plan as the company advances from technology development toward commercialization. The additional cleanroom capacity will provide AlixLabs with more space to install, qualify and operate equipment for customer-facing beta activities, including semiconductor wafer processing and process validation for leading semiconductor clients.
A central part of the expansion is preparation for the company’s APS Beta platform, which is expected to become operational in the second half of 2026. The platform will allow AlixLabs to run more extensive beta tests with semiconductor customers and support the transition of APS™ from pilot-scale development toward commercial manufacturing use cases.
“Expanding our cleanroom footprint at RISE ProNano is a significant step in our commercialization roadmap,” said Jonas Sundqvist, CEO of AlixLabs “The additional 400 square meters give us the infrastructure needed to scale our beta activities, support customer evaluations and demonstrate the value of APS™ in a production-relevant environment.”
AlixLabs’ APS™ technology is designed to enable advanced semiconductor patterning through a fast atomic layer etching (ALE) process, creating extremely small and precise structures while reducing process complexity. By expanding its cleanroom capacity, the company is strengthening its ability to support semiconductor customers as they evaluate new approaches to future chip manufacturing.
The expansion also reinforces AlixLabs’ long-term presence in Lund’s semiconductor ecosystem. Based at RISE ProNano, AlixLabs benefits from access to advanced infrastructure, process expertise and a collaborative environment designed to support the scaling of next-generation semiconductor technologies.
“This expansion is not only about more space,” added Sundqvist. “It is about building the operational foundation required for commercialization. With the APS™ Beta platform coming online later this year, we are creating the capacity needed to work more closely with customers and accelerate the path toward industrial adoption.”
About AlixLabs
Established in 2019 in Lund, Sweden, AlixLabs emerged as a spin-off from Lund University with a mission to enable the cost-effective and energy-conscious fabrication of semiconductors, particularly logic and memory components. AlixLabs boasts patented recognition for its groundbreaking APS™ technique, a process that achieves nanostructure division through etching. This method holds approved patents across the USA, Taiwan, and Europe. The APS™ acronym signifies Atomic Pitch Splitting, leveraging ALE (Atomic Layer Etching), a plasma-based dry etching cyclic methodology. For more details, please visit www.alixlabs.com.
June 23, 2026
AlixLabs launches Sax Forma for the Ångström era
Lund, Sweden – June 23, 2026 – AlixLabs AB, a semiconductor equipment company specializing in advanced etch and patterning technologies, launched Sax Forma, an APS™ System, the company’s first commercially available equipment platform for Atomic Pitch Splitting (APS).
The launch marks AlixLabs’ transition from technology validation toward customer engagement, process integration, and industrial equipment deployment. Sax Forma is designed to bring APS™ into advanced semiconductor manufacturing flows, where continued scaling increasingly depends on reducing patterning complexity.
“With Sax Forma, we are taking APS from validated technology to a commercially available equipment platform,” said Jonas Sundqvist, CEO at AlixLabs. “This is an important step for AlixLabs as we begin deeper customer engagement around how APS can be integrated into existing manufacturing flows and support the industry’s continued scaling roadmap.”
Patterning has become one of the most cost-sensitive and technically demanding areas of advanced chip production, as scaling increasingly requires multi-patterning, additional process loops, and tighter control of critical dimensions, overlay, film thickness, and profile. APS addresses this challenge as a complementary patterning system inserted downstream of established lithography-based process flows, including DUV, EUV, and nanoimprint lithography.
By increasing pattern density without requiring a new lithography platform, APS enables fabs to reduce patterning complexity while preserving existing fab infrastructure and manufacturing investments.
Sax Forma builds on APS demonstrations using industry-relevant silicon, including 300 mm silicon wafers from UMC and Intel FinFET test silicon. On the Intel test silicon, APS reduced the half-pitch from 25 nanometers to 12.5 nanometers, demonstrating performance relevant to geometries associated with the 3-nanometer class. In laboratory settings, AlixLabs has also shown that sequential APS processing can enable further half-pitch reduction, pointing toward future scaling as the industry moves toward 2-nanometer, Ångström-class nodes, and beyond.
Together, these demonstrations support AlixLabs’ core claim: that APS can enable controlled half-pitch refinement in dense, line-based patterning layers without relying on repeated spacer-based process loops.
“APS is designed to complement lithography by adding a controlled pitch-splitting step after the initial pattern has been defined,” said Amin Karimi, CTO at AlixLabs. “The objective is to reduce patterning complexity while preserving compatibility with established process flows. That integration model is central to how we see APS being adopted by semiconductor manufacturers.”
Sax Forma is being industrialized together with VDL ETG Projects, AlixLabs’ partner for system integration and high-tech equipment manufacturing. Building on the collaboration announced earlier this year, VDL ETG Projects is supporting the transition of APS from advanced R&D and process validation into industrial equipment, drawing on its experience in design, engineering, realization, and scale-up from first-of-a-kind systems toward batch manufacturing.
AlixLabs has also built a strong and growing patent portfolio around APS and its equipment platform. The core APS principle is patent protected in key semiconductor markets including the EU, the United States, and Taiwan, while the company expects its process optimization work and hardware innovations to be covered by nine and eleven patent families, respectively, by the end of the year.
Sax Forma enters the market as AlixLabs’ Beta system, intended for customer evaluation, integration work, and validation in production-like environments. As the first commercially available APS equipment platform, it forms the basis for the company’s planned Gamma platform, targeted for 2028.
With Sax Forma, AlixLabs is bringing APS to market as a semiconductor equipment platform that offers a solution to one of the industry’s central scaling challenges: reducing patterning complexity on the path toward the Ångström era.
About AlixLabs
Established in 2019 in Lund, Sweden, AlixLabs emerged as a spin-off from Lund University with a mission to enable the cost-effective and energy-conscious fabrication of semiconductors, particularly logic and memory components. AlixLabs boasts patented recognition for its groundbreaking APS™ technique, a process that achieves nanostructure division through etching. This method holds approved patents across the USA, Taiwan, and Europe. The APS™ acronym signifies ALE Pitch Splitting, leveraging ALE (Atomic Layer Etching), a plasma-based dry etching cyclic methodology.
May 7, 2026
AlixLabs to host APS™ System Launch Event in Eindhoven on June 4
Lund, Sweden – May 7th, 2026 – AlixLabs will host the official launch event for its APS™ (Atomic Pitch Splitting) System, gathering guests from across the semiconductor ecosystem at High Tech Campus Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
The event marks an important milestone in AlixLabs’ transition from technology validation toward industrial deployment, as the company moves to introduce APS™ as a new patterning approach for advanced semiconductor manufacturing.
As advanced semiconductor manufacturing faces increasing challenges related to patterning complexity, process cost and manufacturability, APS™ has been developed to enable advanced pitch division through Atomic Layer Etching-based integration schemes aimed at simplifying multi-patterning flows and reducing process complexity in advanced semiconductor manufacturing.
During the event, AlixLabs will present the APS™ system architecture, recent development progress and the broader industrial implications of the technology, including process integration, manufacturability and future scaling opportunities.
“APS™ has been developed with manufacturability and industrial scalability in mind from the beginning,” said Jonas Sundqvist, CEO and Founder of AlixLabs. “This event represents an important step as we continue expanding our ecosystem engagement and move toward future industrial implementation.”
The APS™ System Launch Event will take place on June 4, 2026 at High Tech Campus Eindhoven in the Netherlands, with registration opening at 15:00 CEST and the main program running from 16:00 to 18:00, followed by networking.
Event details:
Date: June 4, 2026
- Location: High Tech Campus Eindhoven, The Netherlands
- Registration opens: 15:00 CEST
- Main program: 16:00–18:00 CEST
- Networking session: 18:00 onwards
Due to limited venue capacity, registration is required. Additional information and registration details are available here:
About AlixLabs
Established in 2019 in Lund, Sweden, AlixLabs emerged as a spin-off from Lund University with a mission to enable the cost-effective and energy-conscious fabrication of semiconductors, particularly logic and memory components. AlixLabs boasts patented recognition for its groundbreaking APS™ technique, a process that achieves nanostructure division through etching. This method holds approved patents across the USA, Taiwan, and Europe. The APS™ acronym signifies ALE Pitch Splitting, leveraging ALE (Atomic Layer Etching), a plasma-based dry etching cyclic methodology.
April 14, 2026
AlixLabs Closes 15 M EUR Series A with Strategic Investment from Stephen Industries
Lund, Sweden – April 14th, 2026 – AlixLabs, a pioneer in Atomic Layer Etching (ALE) technology for next-generation semiconductor manufacturing, today announced that it closed its 15 million euro Series A in the first quarter of 2026 following a strategic investment from Stephen Industries, a Finnish investment company with a strong track record in scaling advanced technology ventures.
In November 2025, AlixLabs announced that Global Brain and key institutional investors had subscribed to its Series A to the tune of 14,1 million euro, with the difference to the 15 million total remaining open until the first quarter of 2026.
The investment marks a strategic milestone for AlixLabs as it continues to develop its proprietary ALE solutions with especially its flagship APS™ (Atomic Pitch Splitting) technology aimed at enabling more precise, efficient, and cost-effective semiconductor fabrication.
A key dimension of the partnership is the involvement of Kustaa Poutiainen of Stephen Industries, whose experience in building and scaling deep-tech companies brings significant strategic value. Poutiainen previously played a central role in the growth of Picosun, a Nordic Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) company that became a global leader in its field. Given the close technological relationship between ALD and ALE, this track record is particularly relevant to AlixLabs’ mission.
“Stephen Industries brings deep industrial expertise and a proven ability to scale companies in adjacent technology domains,” said Jonas Sundqvist, CEO of AlixLabs. “Kustaa’s experience with Picosun is especially valuable as we move from development toward broader commercialization of our APS™ platform.”
Atomic Layer Etching is widely seen as a critical enabler for future semiconductor nodes, complementing ALD processes by allowing atomic-scale precision in material removal. As device architectures become increasingly complex, ALE is expected to play a central role in manufacturing.
“AlixLabs operates in a highly promising space within semiconductor process technology,” said Kustaa Poutiainen, Chairman and President of Stephen Industries. “Having seen firsthand how ALD evolved from a niche innovation to a critical industry standard, I see strong parallels with ALE. AlixLabs has the potential to follow a similar trajectory.”
The new funding will be used to accelerate product development, expand technical capabilities, and strengthen partnerships with semiconductor manufacturers.
This investment reinforces AlixLabs’ position as a key innovator in the European semiconductor ecosystem and supports its ambition to become a global leader in Atomic Layer Etching.