Inpria, a US-based semiconductor manufacturing technology provider backed by several corporates, agreed on Friday to a $514m acquisition by one of them: petrochemical materials provider JSR.
JSR already owns a 21% stake in the company, having most recently led its $31m series C round in February 2020. Following the completion of the deal, expected by the end of next month, Inpria will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of JSR.
Founded in 2007, Inpria has created metal oxide photoresists (light-sensitive materials) for a semiconductor production process called extreme ultraviolet lithography which simplifies the manufacturing of integrated circuits while reducing costs.
Andrew Grenville, chief executive of Inpria, said: “Together, we will combine Inpria’s metal oxide photoresist technology with JSR’s unmatched experience in quality, manufacturing and customer focus to accelerate the full adoption of our platform in high volume semiconductor manufacturing.
“JSR’s global operations will also allow us to meet customer needs as we ramp our product introductions in critical markets.”
Memory chipmakers SK Hynix, TSMC and Intel also backed the series C round, the last two through corporate venturing subsidiaries TSMC Partners and Intel Capital.
Industrial gases supplier Air Liquide, semiconductor manufacturing technology producer Applied Materials and electronics manufacturer Samsung also took part, through Aliad, Applied Ventures and Samsung Ventures respectively.
Samsung Ventures had led Inpria’s $23.5m series B round in 2017, investing alongside JSR, Aliad, Applied Ventures and Intel Capital. It came after Air Liquide led a $10m series A round in 2016 that included Samsung Ventures, Intel Capital and photolithography technology manufacturer Tokyo Ohka Kogyo.
Samsung Ventures, Intel Capital and Applied Ventures had all contributed to a $7.3m round in 2014 together with Oregon Angel Fund. The company had previously received $160,000 in equity and debt financing in 2010, according to a securities filing.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
