Morphotonics

The problem

Waveguides, the nanopatterned glass or plastic parts that put images in front of a smart-glasses wearer's eye, are still made in small volumes and at high cost, usually on 200 or 300 mm wafers. IDC expects 12.2 million smart glasses with displays to ship in 2030 (cited by TechCrunch, September 2026), a volume the optics supply chain cannot yet serve cheaply. Contract optics and display makers in Asia feel this first.

The solution

Morphotonics sells large-area Roll-to-Plate (R2P) nanoimprint machines together with its own resins and process know-how. The process handles substrates up to 1.1 x 1.3 m and replicates features from 500 microns down to 50 nm. Its Cypris platform targets high-volume waveguide output; the next machine, now being built, is designed for more than 6 million waveguides a year, with shipments expected in early 2027.

How it works

1. A flexible UV-transparent stamp carries the pattern, lasts over 1,000 imprints and is swapped in about 5 minutes.
2. The machine dispenses a proprietary solvent-free resin (refractive index 1.4 to 1.6), combining inkjet dosing with imprinting.
3. A roller presses the stamp onto the glass or film plate (up to 1.1 x 1.3 m) without trapping air.
4. UV light cures the resin and the stamp peels away, forming thousands of parts in one pass with sub-100 nm precision.
5. Plates are diced into components; Morphotonics supplies the chemistry, trains customers and runs a Lab to Fab network for pre-purchase testing.

Value proposition

More parts per plate means a lower unit cost than 300 mm wafer processes. The company says revenue tripled in 2025 versus 2024, but publishes no absolute revenue or customer cost savings.

Technology edge

Standard nanoimprint runs on round 200 or 300 mm wafers; Morphotonics roll-imprints rectangular plates larger than one square meter (1.1 x 1.3 m) with features down to 50 nm. It controls the machine, the resin and the stamp, building on optical disc replication know-how. It also says it shares much of ASML's supplier base.

Business model

B2B: equipment sales (about 90% of revenue), process licensing, resin supply and training. Public pricing: not disclosed.

Market

Counterpoint Research (cited by Tech Funding News, 2026) forecasts smart eyewear at $44B by 2032, and IDC expects 12.2 million display-equipped smart glasses to ship in 2030. Morphotonics targets AI and AR glasses waveguides, 3D and anti-glare displays, and later photonic components for data centers.

Competitors and alternatives

EV Group (Austria) runs SmartNIL on 300 mm wafers with its HERCULES NIL line and showed it with SCHOTT for AR waveguides as early as 2019. SCIL Nanoimprint Solutions, a Philips Research spin-out, raised over €10M in December 2023 (imec.xpand, Invest-NL, BOM) for wafer-level nanoimprint tools. Finland's Dispelix (€43.2M raised) designs waveguides and could be a customer rather than a rival. Morphotonics stands apart on large rectangular formats.

Use cases

• Leia Inc. industrialized its diffractive backlighting for glasses-free 3D with Morphotonics and uses it to produce its LumePad display.
• An Asian smartphone component maker has run Morphotonics' first production machine since 2018 (customer not named).
• eLstar Dynamics developed nanoimprinted spacers for smart glass with Morphotonics.

Traction and proof points

10 to 15 systems deployed per TechCrunch (September 2026), over 20 installations per the company in late 2024; target of 50 within two to three years. Named partners: Leia Inc., eLstar Dynamics, NIL Technology, CSEM, temicon. Revenue tripled in 2025. Brabant Startup Award (2018), CES Innovation Awards Honoree 2022. Exhibited at CES in 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2026.

What remains to be proven

No customer is named for AI-glasses waveguide production, and installed-base figures differ between sources (10 to 15 versus over 20). The 6-million-waveguides-a-year machine has not shipped yet, and the data center push is still at customer validation, with no machine delivered.