Nexstrom, a Singapore semiconductor startup incubated by Xora Innovation, has raised a $12 million seed round to scale equipment and processes for manufacturing two-dimensional semiconductor materials. The financing brings its total funding to $15 million and includes Xora, Foothill Ventures and SEEDS. Nexstrom is developing North Star, a system designed to grow transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) directly on commercial 300mm wafers. TMDs are only a few atomic layers thick and could help chipmakers address leakage, power loss and heat as silicon transistors become harder to shrink. The company says its 12-inch system has been installed and that it has scaled its work from 2-inch to 6-inch wafers, with 8-inch development underway. Industry companies including TSMC, Intel, IMEC, ASML and AIXTRON are also working on 2D semiconductor integration or manufacturing technologies. Nexstrom says some companies are testing its wafer and material samples, although it has not identified them. The startup plans to use the funding to improve process control and measurement, expand its team and support customer qualification programs, with equipment targeted for commercial production between 2030 and 2035.