SkyWater Technology (NASDAQ: SKYT), the trusted technology realization partner, today announced it has signed a production agreement with Nautilus Biotechnology, Inc. to supply silicon-based microfluidic bio chips for Nautilus’ proteome analysis system. This marks a significant milestone for SkyWater as Nautilus transitions from its Advanced Technology Services (ATS) custom development program to SkyWater’s Wafer Services program. Through SkyWater’s Technology as a Service (TaaS) business model, the company provides customers with a unique combination of strong technical capability, rigorous product development processes and secure manufacturing, all within the same U.S. operation.
A more comprehensive understanding of proteins and their function may become an important contributor to precision medicine and in the understanding of biological functions, discovery of disease markers, and verifying drug targets. Advances in protein analysis are increasingly being co-developed across industries through advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities. Custom-designed nanostructures, with features orders of magnitude smaller than advanced plastics, can be produced on a large scale and precisely tailored in size, shape, and arrangement to support specific tasks. This approach not only enhances system performance but also leads to savings in materials and costs, directly benefiting companies pursuing next-generation protein analysis by improving efficiency and reducing resource usage.
Advances in MEMS, microfluidics, low-power electronics and materials science are driving innovation for the biomedical industry. SkyWater leverages its extensive CMOS and MEMS process capabilities to meet the customized technology needs of its customers. The company’s TaaS model enables chip designers to engage with the foundry early in the technology lifecycle by performing development work in a production environment. This approach accelerates time to market, ensures that quality is designed in from the start and scales easily to volume. SkyWater is certified to the ISO 13485 Quality Standard for Medical Devices to support the design, development and fabrication of DNA sequencing, lab on chip and other biomedical applications.
“As we continue to experience growth in our innovation-focused ATS development business, we are pleased to see one of our development-stage life science customers begin their transition to Wafer Services production. Our TaaS model allows customers to continue to innovate for future designs on the same tools and processes as their current product, enabling a ‘lab-to-fab’ environment,” said Ross Miller, SVP, Commercial and A&D Business at SkyWater. “We look forward to continuing to support Nautilus as they move toward the commercial availability of their groundbreaking proteome analysis platform. It’s exciting to be working with their team on efforts to revolutionize biomedicine and positively impact the health and lives of people around the world.”