Black Semiconductor GmbH is a deep-tech semiconductor company headquartered in Aachen, Germany, pioneering Integrated Graphene Photonics™ (IGP) technology. Founded in 2020 as a spin-off from the AMO nanotechnology research center at RWTH Aachen, the company integrates graphene-based photonic devices directly onto conventional electronic chips, enabling optical chip-to-chip communication that is faster, cooler, and far more energy-efficient than traditional copper interconnects.

The company's core IGP platform allows chips to compute with electricity and communicate with photons by harnessing graphene's unique optical properties. This eliminates bandwidth bottlenecks in data centers and AI compute clusters, enabling high-speed, low-latency, long-distance data transfer within and across chips. The technology is CMOS-compatible, making it manufacturable in existing semiconductor fabs and scalable to mass production.

In 2025, Black Semiconductor opened FabONE, a 15,000 m² purpose-built fabrication facility in Aachen designed to become the world's first 300mm graphene photonics production fab. That same year, the company acquired Applied Nanolayers (ANL), a Dutch graphene materials specialist, bringing in-house graphene production and accelerating its technology roadmap by approximately two years. Pilot production is targeted for 2027 and volume production for 2029.

The company's technology addresses a critical bottleneck in AI and high-performance computing infrastructure, making it relevant to hyperscalers, data center operators, and chip designers worldwide. With ~181 employees across Germany and the Netherlands, Black Semiconductor is one of Europe's most heavily funded deep-tech semiconductor startups, having raised €254.4 million in combined public and private funding.