PragmatIC Semiconductor

IMPACT CASE STUDIES

CREATE MORE

IMP RATING: B – BENEFIT STAKEHOLDERS CIC has been a vital partner for our business during the development, installation and commissioning of our first FlexLogIC system and launch of our first commercial products. Their understanding of deep tech companies has allowed them to support us effectively on this journey. Now our technology is creating electronic solutions that would never have been considered using traditional silicon paradigms, enabling innovators around the world to rapidly take creative ideas from concept to reality.

SCOTT WHITE

CEO

We have applied the Impact Management Project (IMP) framework (see IBC for further details) in summarising the impact of a selection of our investments.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

PragmatIC Semiconductor is a world leader in ultra-lowcost flexible electronics. Its flexible integrated circuits (FlexICs) are thinner than a human hair and can be invisibly embedded in objects, enabling innovators to create novel solutions to everyday problems that are not practical with conventional electronics. Designers can create their own application-specific flexible devices using FlexIC Foundry® service at a fraction of the cost and time required for traditional silicon circuits, opening up multiple new markets. FlexICs are manufactured on a revolutionary FlexLogIC® production system, a highly scalable manufacturing model for cost-effective high-volume production, achieved with orders of magnitude lower capital investment, operating cost and environmental footprint compared to a traditional silicon IC fab.

IMPACT THESIS

PragmatIC’s technology creates impact along two key dimensions: the fabrication process to make semiconductor devices; and the range of beneficial use cases for embedding electronics in everyday items. The unique FlexLogIC® system eliminates the most energy-intensive steps in conventional semiconductor manufacturing. Lower temperature processing mitigates the power draw while dramatically shorter production cycle times further reduce the overall energy requirement. Water consumption and wastewater generation is also reduced, while a novel material stack minimises the carbon footprint of upstream inputs. These effects combine to result in around 1,000x lower CO2e per circuit. Use cases for FlexICs are increasingly focused on key themes of circular economy and ubiquitous healthcare. For mass-market items such as fast-moving consumer goods, PragmatIC’s technology enables cost-effective item-level traceability to support automated end-toend management of product lifecycles, both reducing waste within the supply chain and optimising end-of-life outcomes for recycling and reuse. Item-level traceability also benefits healthcare systems, for example improving efficiency in pathology testing, while the recent addition of proven sensing and computation capabilities to FlexICs also diagnosis and monitoring a range of conditions using patient-friendly wearable patches that are thin, flexible, and conformal, at a cost point orders of magnitude lower than conventional medical devices.

IMPACT SUMMARY

The semiconductor industry has become a major contributor to industrial carbon footprint, and the ongoing trend towards greater use of electronics across every aspect of our lives will only exacerbate the situation. The 1000x lower CO2e achieved by PragmatIC’s technology (alongside its dramatically lower cost and thin flexible form factor) is a critical enabler for the Internet of Everything to become a viable reality, and PragmatIC has ongoing R&D to achieve net-zero semiconductor fabrication. This will directly benefit major electronics manufacturers for whom PragmatIC offers an on-site Fab-as-a-Service (FaaS) model, thereby reducing electricity and water consumption, as well as carbon footprint. The FaaS approach has further indirect benefits in minimising unnecessary transport of material within the electronics supply chain, by supporting just-intime local production of FlexICs. End users of PragmatIC’s technology benefit from a wide range of use cases for improving daily life by embedding intelligence in everyday objects. This is particularly apparent in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, where FlexIC-based smart packaging could enable a circular economy for trillions of items. Examples include projects with major food producers and retailers to minimise waste in the farm-to-fork ecosystem, and with leading global beverage producers (supported by the UK Government) to ensure optimal recycling of single use plastics, as well as support packaging reuse and refill models. There is currently no other technology that can deliver these benefits with the same combination of functionality, form factor and ultra-low cost. Similarly, while healthcare providers have invested a significant amount in connectivity and traceability of major items like medical equipment, hospital infrastructure and so on, they do not currently have an effective way to track the huge number of transient items within the ecosystem, such as patient samples, pharmaceuticals and vaccines. PragmatIC’s technology uniquely allows this to be possible, as demonstrated with the NHS where automated tracking of pathology samples has been predicted to generate up to £400 million per annum in operational savings. As the sensing and computational capabilities of FlexICs improve, PragmatIC also has projects focused on directly improving patient outcomes through wearable smart plaster/patches for automated wound monitoring and detection of atrial fibrillation. To ensure that these potential benefits translate into reality, PragmatIC needs to be able to significantly scale production, since all target applications require at least billions if not trillions of FlexICs. The company is currently closing a major Series C round to support its second FlexLogIC® fab and anticipates further significant investment in 2022/23 to deliver its first FaaS contracts on route to deploying around 100 FlexLogIC® systems over the next decade.