$29.7 Million in Investment Received by Nantero, Total at More Than $120 Million

Nantero Inc., the nanotechnology company developing next-generation memory using carbon nanotubes, expanded product development with a range of new and existing customers.

Leveraging NRAM’s combination of DRAM-like speed, non-volatility and low cost, the products currently under development include the following:

• A multi-Gb DDR4-compatible nonvolatile standalone memory product with speed comparable to DRAM and a lower price/GB than DRAM
• A standalone chip designed as a cache for SSDs or HDDs which removes the need for battery backup and allows expansion of cache size, substantially speeding up the drive
• A variety of embedded memory offerings, including a scalable embedded nonvolatile memory that can scale to 5nm in size and operate at DRAM-like speeds, and operates under high temperature, making it for automotive applications, as well as IoT

As Nantero engages in this product development with multiple partners, it has received investment from eight investors. Five of those were participants in Nantero’s most-recent strategic round, with a total of $29.7 million in investment received.

The investors include the following:

• Dell Technologies Capital, the venture capital arm of Dell Technologies, one of the world’s five largest semiconductor buyers.
• Cisco Investments, the VC arm of Cisco.Kingston Technology Corporationhttps://www.kingston.com/en, the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products.
• China Fortune-Tech Capital Co., Ltd., one of China’s leading semiconductor investment firms, which was incorporated by SMIC, mainland China’s most advanced pure play semiconductor foundry, and a senior investment team along with other shareholders. The most recent fund was funded by the China National IC Fund, SMIC and a financial institution.
• Three strategic investors not disclosed at this time, all of which are leading companies in the semiconductor industry
• Schlumberger Limited, the world’s leading provider of technology for reservoir characterization, drilling, production, and processing to the oil and gas industry.

“Having global leaders such as Cisco Investments and Dell Technologies Capital invest in Nantero highlights the potential of our next generation NRAM technology,” said Greg Schmergel, co-founder and CEO, Nantero. “No other memory combines DRAM-like speed, low power, nonvolatility and reasonable manufacturing costs, along with excellent temperature and radiation stability. We are pleased to see the industry also recognizing these significant competitive advantages as evidenced by these investors and our continually growing customer base.”

Nantero currently has more than a dozen partners and customers in the consumer electronics, enterprise systems, and semiconductor industries actively working on NRAM. Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited and Mie Fujitsu Semiconductor will be the first customer to bring NRAM to market in 2019, followed by other companies when they are ready to announce.

Nantero also recently set up an office and wholly-foreign-owned-entity (WFOE) in Beijing, China, as part of its commitment to grow and expand its business in China with both local customers and manufacturers.

This new funding will enable Nantero to support the many customers currently bringing multiple products into the market, while also enabling new customers to begin development.

The recent financing round brings the total invested in Nantero to date to over $120 million.