Paragraf, the first company in the world to deliver a scalable approach to graphene electronic device manufacturing, has taken possession of a second manufacturing site in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
Image Credit: Paragraf
The new site will allow Paragraf to massively increase the size of its clean room facilities and other manufacturing areas while providing additional office space. Paragraf staff are beginning to move in during the first quarter of 2023 and production is expected to ramp up in the second half of the year. The initial expansion of staff into the Huntingdon facility will enable accelerated development of the research, development and production areas on the current Somersham site to cope with increasing customer demand as fit out of operations at the new site progresses.
Paragraf’s first site was opened in October 2018 and since then Paragraf has grown from 12 employees to over 110. The company’s growth has been financed by over $85 million in capital raised in several venture funding rounds. The business is currently focussed on growing revenues from its graphene-based magnetic field and current sensor products. Paragraf will be raising additional funding to accelerate its ongoing product development ensuring the company stays ahead of the competition and delivers its future technology roadmap to continue delivering game-changing products. The acquisition of a second site is the latest addition in Paragraf’s strong growth over the past few years committing the company to growing the local Cambridge area economy and delivering highly skilled, high value employment to the area.
Simon Thomas, Paragraf CEO, said: “Paragraf has the ambition and proven ability to lead deep-tech graphene development across multiple industries, this new manufacturing facility will enable us to not only meet growing demand for our existing products, but also give us the space to develop new products to fuel our pipeline. The world is just beginning to realise the benefits that graphene-based electronics can bring to a wide range of applications from quantum computing through to electric vehicle power trains and there are massive opportunities for us to help alleviate global problems using graphene to, for example, reduce energy usage, boost product performance, improve safety, accelerate diagnosis in healthcare, and build next-generation advanced material semiconductor technologies.”
Paragraf’s aggressive capacity expansion comes at a time when the semiconductor industry around the world is facing unprecedented challenges and demonstrates the company’s commitment to building advanced manufacturing in the UK. In common with many others in the UK, Paragraf has been pushing for clarity in government regulation and support. Working closely with many parties to build advanced manufacturing facilities requires local planning support, reliable utility development and supply, efficient logistics and servicing, and crystal-clear import and export regulations and trading relationships. Success in this type of endeavour will result in significant development and benefits around the new manufacturing facilities that should not only benefit the local community, but also the national economy.