Semiconductors & Quantum

Semiconductors & Quantum are the “enabling technologies” that power all other deep tech verticals, from artificial intelligence to the energy transition. This sector includes the design and manufacturing of novel semiconductor chips, photonics, and neuromorphic computing, as well as the development of quantum hardware, software, and sensing. These are foundational technologies that unlock exponential leaps in computing power and performance.

Switzerland has emerged as a premier global hub for this “hard tech,” anchored by world-class talent from ETH Zurich, EPFL, and specialized research institutes like CSEM and CERN. For investors, the Swiss ecosystem offers a “uniquely stable environment” insulated from geopolitical volatility, which is critical for the long-term R&D cycles these technologies demand. A new, ambitious generation of founders is tackling the full stack, supported by generous R&D funding and a culture of continuous innovation.

On this page, we detail the companies building the future of computing. Discover the top-funded startups like Kandou, Sensirion, and Terra Quantum, the diverse research hubs, and the “companies to watch” that are positioning Switzerland as a leader in both the semiconductor and quantum revolutions.

Data-based insights research

A Design-Led Cluster Built on Decades of Applied Research

The Swiss Deep Tech Report 2025 counts 70+ VC-backed startups in the Swiss semiconductors and quantum sector, with USD 532 million raised since 2019 and a combined enterprise value of USD 1.7 billion. The cluster is anchored by three institutions with direct spinoff programs: ETH Zurich and EPFL in chip design, photonics, and quantum hardware, and CSEM in Neuchâtel, which operates as Europe’s leading independent ASIC design and microtechnology center with a track record of industrial spinoffs in low-power electronics, sensor integration, and precision timing. In May 2025, CCRAFT — a direct CSEM spinoff — launched the first production-ready foundry for thin-film lithium niobate photonic chips, a material platform critical to AI-scale optical interconnects and quantum networking infrastructure.

The concentration in chip design rather than fabrication has been reinforced by the SwissChips initiative, launched in February 2024 and running through 2027. The CHF 33.8 million program is jointly funded by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) at CHF 26 million and by ETH Zurich, EPFL, and CSEM contributing CHF 7.8 million combined. Led by Prof. Christoph Studer of ETH Zurich, it covers eight work packages spanning AI-specific chip design, 6G communications, space electronics, photonics, and biomedical chips. The initiative was launched as a direct response to Switzerland’s exclusion from the EU’s Digital Europe programme and its limited access to Horizon Europe, both of which restricted Swiss researchers from strategic calls in semiconductors and microelectronics between 2021 and 2024. Its infrastructure and design resources are open to all Swiss universities and universities of applied sciences.

The Patient-Capital Track Record

Sensirion, an ETH Zurich spinoff founded in 1998, became the world’s largest manufacturer of digital humidity and temperature sensors and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange in 2018. Kandou Bus, founded in 2011 from EPFL research on high-speed chip-to-chip communication, has grown into a key IP licensor for AI chip interconnects used by major semiconductor OEMs. u-blox — founded in 1997 as an ETH Zurich spinoff, listed in 2007, and serving more than 10,000 customers across automotive, industrial IoT, and precision agriculture — was acquired by US private equity firm Advent International in November 2025 for CHF 1.05 billion, at a 53% premium to the six-month volume-weighted average price before acquisition rumors surfaced, with the company committing to remain headquartered in Thalwil, Zurich. The transaction validates a 28-year trajectory from ETH spinoff to billion-franc exit and is the largest semiconductor exit in Swiss startup history.

Earlier in 2025, Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH acquired Lausanne-based Pi Imaging Technologies in July, integrating its photonic imaging chip technology into the Zeiss microscopy portfolio. At the growth stage, Corintis closed a USD 24 million Series A in September 2025 to bring its ETH-developed microfluidic liquid cooling system for high-power AI chips to mass production, targeting the thermal management bottleneck that limits current GPU and accelerator deployments in data centers.

Quantum: From QKD Pioneer to Hardware Stack

ID Quantique, founded in 2001 from the University of Geneva’s Group of Applied Physics, deployed the world’s first commercial quantum cryptography system in 2007 — used to secure cantonal elections in Geneva — and has since become a global supplier of quantum key distribution systems, photon counters, and quantum random number generators. Zurich Instruments, an ETH spinoff founded in 2008, manufactures quantum computing control electronics — the hardware layer between software and physical qubits — and supplies the majority of major quantum hardware research programs worldwide.

Federal investment has since scaled that base. The Swiss Quantum Initiative (CHQI), launched in 2022, secured CHF 80 million in government funding across 2024 to 2028 for research infrastructure, national programs, and international partnerships. At the private infrastructure level, QuantumBasel — backed by approximately USD 500 million from the uptownBasel development — has partnered with IBM, D-Wave, and IonQ. In December 2024, QuantumBasel deployed a fully operational IonQ Forte Enterprise 35-qubit quantum computer on-site in Basel — the first commercially deployed quantum system in Switzerland — alongside a CHF 50 million QAI Ventures fund dedicated to quantum startups. At the company formation layer, ZuriQ — an ETH Zurich spinoff founded in 2024 from the labs of Prof. Jonathan Home — raised a USD 4.2 million seed round in January 2025 led by Founderful to commercialize a two-dimensional trapped-ion architecture designed to overcome the qubit-scaling ceiling of conventional one-dimensional ion chain systems, targeting pharmaceuticals and financial services as primary markets for utility-scale quantum computing.

Semiconductors & Quantum
News