UNISERS enters commercial phase following first system shipment

Contamination-driven yield excursions remain one of the most expensive challenges in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, representing a 50-billion-dollar annual impact globally, with leading-edge nodes particularly affected. UNISERS, an ETH Zurich spinoff incorporated in 2019 addresses this challenge by delivering real-time, in-line visibility into particle sources and composition, both on wafers and in process liquids, enabling faster root-cause analysis and more effective advanced process control.

UNISERS’ proprietary Surface Enhanced Particle Sizing (SEPS) and Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) technologies enable unmatched nanoparticle detection and classification. These wafer-based platforms detect and classify sub-10nm particles in semiconductor manufacturing, which is something existing tools cannot reliably do. Its technology targets Defect Review and Liquid Defectivity, catching “killer” particles early to prevent costly yield loss and accelerate root-cause analysis.

First customer deal with global semiconductor company
Just recently, UNISERS shipped its first fully automated, volume-production-ready fab tool to a customer based in the United States. The undisclosed customer is a leading-edge semiconductor manufacturer positioned among the top 3 chip producers globally. The company employs well over 100,000 people worldwide and operates a global network of high-volume manufacturing fabs across the US, Europe, and Asia, including multiple facilities focused on advanced logic nodes. As one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers, the customer runs highly complex, capital-intensive fabs where contamination-driven yield excursions can translate into very significant financial impact.

This first fab deployment marks UNISERS’ transition from lab and pilot environments into continuous, automated production use. “Shipping our first fully automated fab tool into a production environment is a major milestone for UNISERS,” said Ali Altun, cofounder and CTO. “It reflects years of work on a fundamentally new approach to detecting and classifying contamination at the molecular level and builds on the success of our lab tools already in customer use. With this system now operating in-fab, we’re taking a critical step toward high-volume manufacturing.”

Following this initial launch, the company is now building the second Explorer G1 (defect review / particle source and composition visibility) for its U.S.-based leading-edge customer, with shipment planned toward the end of Q1 2026. Active discussions are also underway with the top three leading-edge fabs globally across the U.S., South Korea, and Taiwan, where UNISERS has deployed a system at ITRI, a renowned semiconductor research institute, to enable local demonstration and sampling capabilities. “This setup allows us to support customer evaluations more efficiently in-region and strengthens our commercial presence in the Taiwanese semiconductor ecosystem,” said Marcel Greimel, Head of Finance at UNISERS.

Building on this momentum, and with six systems shipped to date across the semiconductor ecosystem, the company will now focus on scaling its fab platform and expanding customer deployments throughout 2026. Additional efforts will center on advancing the second application stream, Liquid Defectivity, which is scheduled for launch within the next two years.

Executive changes to fuel growth

In addition to the market launch, UNISERS has welcomed seasoned deep-tech leader Chuck Milligan as Chief Executive Officer to lead its 30-person team and help scale the commercial adoption. Longtime KLA executive Oreste Donzella joined the company as a key strategic advisor.

Financially, the company benefits from strong investor backing and robust support within the Swiss innovation ecosystem. It received CHF 2.5 million in non‑dilutive funding from the Innosuisse Swiss Accelerator Program in 2022, followed by a CHF 13 million seed round in early 2023 led by Intel Capital, with participation from M Ventures, Swisscom Ventures, and RSBG Ventures. In early 2025, the company secured an additional CHF 5 million from existing investors to accelerate development of the fully automated system, which has now shipped.

(RAN)