NexWafe acquires € 30 million for a commercial production facility

NexWafe GmbH, a German manufacturer of monocrystalline wafers using its proprietary »Epinex« process, in which crystalline silicon layers are grown on a seed wafer and then stripped to form a monocrystalline n-type wafer of any thickness without sawing loss, has received € 30 million ($ 32 million) from its existing investor group as well as new investors. The investment comes ahead of a financing round planned for the second half of the year and is intended to secure the start of construction of NexWafe’s first commercial production line in Bitterfeld (Germany).
NexWafe did not provide details on the size of the planned series production or the exact schedule. At the same time, however, the company reported that it had agreed with one of its main investors – Aramco Ventures, the investment subsidiary of the world’s largest oil company Saudi Aramco – to collaborate on the development of a wafer factory in Saudi Arabia.
The company, which was established in 2015 as a spin-off from Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, is pursuing its technology in the expectation that it will be able to offer products comparable to wafers available today in terms of achievable efficiencies, with a significantly better energy balance and at lower prices.
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