Chicago, IL – Sept. 25, 2026 – K1 Semiconductor announced today that it has been chosen to participate in Breakthrough Energy’s prestigious Fellows Program to advance its wafer-splitting technology to produce more high-performance semiconductor devices from each wafer. Fellows supports early-stage innovators who are developing technologies with the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions at scale.

BE Fellows receive funding, tailored technical guidance, and access to Breakthrough Energy’s global network of mentors, experts and partners. The program helps founders bridge the gap from lab to market and advance their solutions toward commercial readiness. K1 joins 20 other companies in this year’s Breakthrough Energy Fellows cohort, bringing together innovators from nine different countries.

K1 technology is the enabling platform for creating advanced composite wafers for high voltage, high frequency, and high temperature applications.

“K1’s technology is the enabling platform for integrating advanced materials into next generation semiconductors.  BE Fellow’s support will help us accelerate our development and commercialization so that we can begin unlocking the advanced performance needed for cutting edge AI, quantum and defense applications” said CEO, Connor Horn.

Since its launch in 2020, BE Fellows has grown to include more than 200 innovators across nearly 20 countries, and this year reached a major milestone: 100 companies supported by the program. Fellows alumni have gone on to secure more than $750 million in follow-on funding and advance hundreds of patents, pilots and partnerships.

Learn more about BE Fellows and the 2026 class here: https://bth-energy.com/3VahKhq

About K1 Semiconductor:
K1 Semiconductor produces ultra-thin layers of advanced semiconductor materials for next-generation chips. Its proprietary splitting process removes a thin  5–50 µm layer from a semiconductor  wafer, which can be bonded to a base wafer, or carried temporarily and then released as a chiplet. Because the original wafer can be repolished and reused, K1’s process can produce up to 20 times more chips from a single wafer while enabling new approaches to semiconductor packaging and integration.K1 works with advanced materials including SiC, GaN, InP, LiNbO₃, and diamond, supporting applications across power electronics, RF, photonics, and quantum technologies.

Backed by five years of R&D at the University of Chicago, the K1 team brings deep expertise from IBM and Argonne National Laboratory. The company has active collaborations ongoing with the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers across the US, Europe, and Asia.

Learn more about K1 Semiconductor: https://k1semiconductor.com/

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