In an era where semiconductor performance is increasingly defined by the ability to manage heat rather than compute alone, CoolSem Technologies has emerged with a bold proposition: redesign chip thermal management at the wafer level. The Eindhoven-based startup has now secured a pre-seed funding round to accelerate this mission, marking a major early milestone for the company as it works to bring its breakthrough technology from concept to real-world validation.
Funding to Accelerate Wafer-Level Thermal Innovation
The round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and joined by KBC Focus Fund NV, the Brabant Development Agency (BOM), and TTT Green Tech B.V. (SHIFT Invest). This diverse group of investors, spanning deep tech, regional development and sustainability-focused funds, signals strong confidence in the company’s potential to solve one of the semiconductor industry’s most pressing challenges.
Founded in 2025, CoolSem Technologies develops advanced thermal solutions specifically tailored for next-generation semiconductor and photonic devices. Headquartered in Eindhoven, the company is positioned at the heart of one of Europe’s leading semiconductor innovation hubs.
Addressing the Industry’s Performance Bottleneck
As chips become faster and more powerful and as demand grows for high-frequency RF components, photonic devices and power electronics, heat generation has become a severe limiting factor. Traditional substrates and packaging materials are approaching their physical limits, unable to efficiently dissipate the thermal energy generated by modern architectures.
CoolSem Technologies aims to address this bottleneck head-on with its WaLTIS (Wafer-Level Thermal Interface Stack) technology, an engineered multilayer structure that replaces conventional substrates.
Introducing WaLTIS: A New Thermal Pathway for Chips
The WaLTIS multilayer stack is designed to create a direct, highly efficient thermal pathway beneath the active regions of a semiconductor device. By improving heat dissipation at the wafer level, WaLTIS:
- Enhances thermal conductivity
- Increases mechanical stability
- Reduces device hotspots
- Extends hardware lifetime
- Supports higher operating power and frequencies
Because WaLTIS integrates directly into existing semiconductor manufacturing flows, it offers a practical and scalable improvement over incumbent materials, without forcing radical changes to device design or production processes.
A Boost for Performance, Efficiency and Sustainability
Better thermal performance not only enables faster chips, it also makes them more energy-efficient and longer-lasting, reducing cooling requirements and slowing material degradation. This, in turn, supports a more sustainable and circular semiconductor ecosystem, where components remain in service longer and scarce materials can be reused more effectively.
CoolSem’s approach is particularly impactful for compound semiconductor devices, such as those using GaAs, InP, GaN and SiC, which are essential for 5G, photonics, EV power systems and satellite communications but rely on expensive and resource-intensive materials.
Industry Leaders Recognize Its Potential
CEO André van Geelen emphasizes that thermal constraints are now among the greatest limiting factors for performance in RF, photonics and power electronics. He notes that many legacy methods of thermal management are at the end of their physical scalability.
Olaf Joeressen, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF, described CoolSem’s technology as having the potential to become a core building block in future chip thermal architectures, highlighting the growing strategic importance of materials-level innovation in semiconductor design.
Advancing Toward Engineering Samples and Customer Testing
With the new funding, CoolSem Technologies will move WaLTIS from proof-of-concept to engineering-ready samples. These will undergo validation with leading customers across RF, power and photonics markets. The investment will also support reliability testing, qualification activities and real-world performance assessments, paving the way toward commercial adoption.
Driving the Future of High-Performance Electronics
By engineering a fundamentally better way to remove heat at the wafer level, CoolSem Technologies is positioning itself at the forefront of next-generation semiconductor thermal management. As chips continue to push the boundaries of speed, power and integration, CoolSem’s innovations may help define the thermal foundations of tomorrow’s electronics.