Femtum, a Québec City-based laser technology developer, has opened a new $2.1-million headquarters inside the city’s Metropolitan Technology Park, marking a sixfold expansion of its footprint as it ramps up production for advanced semiconductor manufacturers tied to the AI data centre boom.
The company spent four years operating out of the National Optics Institute’s Quantino tech incubator before moving into the new facility, which includes cleanrooms, laboratories, and offices. According to the company, the expanded space significantly increases its production capacity and allows research, product development, and manufacturing to happen under one roof for the first time.
Femtum co-founder and CTO Simon Duval said in a statement that the new labs give the company room to advance research, product development, and production side by side, allowing teams to move from idea to prototype and from prototype to delivering a laser to a customer without leaving the building. Duval described the move as the culmination of work that began at Université Laval and the start of a new commercial chapter for the company.
Funding Behind the Expansion
The new facility was made possible by a $16-million CAD equity Series A funding round along with a nearly $2-million federal repayable contribution, both secured by Femtum earlier this year.
Femtum develops laser cleaning and trimming technology used by manufacturers that produce specialized chips increasingly required by next-generation data centres. Its technology supports the production of silicon photonic chips, which transmit information using light rather than electricity and can process data at higher speeds while consuming less energy. These characteristics make the chips especially suited to AI data centre applications. Femtum says its technology can help chipmakers improve production line yield and reduce the energy consumption of their semiconductors.
Staffing Up to Meet Global Demand
The company says the new factory will position it to supply some of the world’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturers, including firms in Asia and the United States. Femtum currently employs close to 40 people and has seven open roles, with plans to grow past 50 employees by 2027 as it works to meet international demand.
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