Keiron Printing Technologies, a deep-tech startup based in Eindhoven, has raised €20.7 million in Series A funding to scale a laser-based solder paste printing system designed to replace stencil printing in electronics assembly. The investment round was co-led by Invest-NL, DeepTechXL, and Waves Capital, with participation from Singapore’s ATUM Ventures. The company says its technology addresses a manufacturing bottleneck that is responsible for more than 70% of printed circuit board assembly defects in a market worth over €600 billion annually.
Key facts
- Funding amount: €20.7 million Series A
- Investors: Invest-NL, DeepTechXL, Waves Capital (co-leads), ATUM Ventures (participant)
- Technology: HF2 printer using Laser-Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT)
- Replaces stencil-based solder paste printing
- First-pass yield: from industry-typical ~60% to above 95%
- Production lead time halved, uptime doubled, programming 10x faster
- Origin: TNO Holst Centre (TNO and imec collaboration)
- Target markets: Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific
The hidden bottleneck in electronics manufacturing
Every smartphone, server, electric vehicle, medical device, and defense system relies on printed circuit boards (PCBs) that connect microchips and components. While much of the semiconductor industry’s attention goes to lithography, etching, and wafer fabrication, the assembly of chips onto boards is equally demanding. A critical step is solder paste printing: applying a precise pattern of solder paste onto a PCB’s copper pads before components are placed and reflowed. For decades, this has been done with stencils—thin metal sheets with laser-cut apertures that determine where paste lands.
Stencil printing is fast and cheap at scale, but it has become a growing source of yield loss as electronic designs become denser. The paste is spread across the stencil with a squeegee, and any slight misalignment, clogged aperture, or variation in paste viscosity creates defects. According to industry data, solder paste printing accounts for over 70% of PCB assembly defects. These defects range from solder bridges and insufficient solder to tombstoning and opens, all of which require costly rework or scrap.
What Keiron’s HF2 printer does differently
Keiron’s HF2 printer abandons the stencil entirely. Instead, it uses Laser-Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT), a digital, non-contact deposition method. A laser pulse transfers tiny droplets of solder paste from a donor substrate to the PCB at high speed. Because the system is digital, there are no physical masks to design, fabricate, align, or clean. Patterns can be changed instantly in software, making the system well suited to prototyping, low-volume production, and high-mix manufacturing.
The company reports dramatic operational improvements. First-pass yield, the percentage of boards that pass inspection without rework, jumps from an industry-typical 60% to above 95%. Production lead time is halved because the time spent on stencil fabrication and setup is eliminated. Uptime doubles, since there is no stencil cleaning or replacement. Programming is up to ten times faster than creating a new stencil, enabling rapid product iterations.
Why AI hardware needs a new approach
The shift from stencil-based to laser-based printing arrives at a critical moment for the AI industry. Advanced AI accelerators, graphics processors, and high-bandwidth memory packages are pushing the limits of interconnection density. A single chip package can now have more than 10,000 interconnects. At that scale, traditional stencil printing becomes difficult to control. Fine-pitch apertures clog, paste release degrades, and even microscopic misalignment can cause resistance changes or open connections.
AI models require enormous compute, which in turn requires chips that are not only powerful but also reliable when integrated into systems. The AI boom has already strained every layer of the electronics supply chain, from memory and power delivery to advanced packaging and testing. Solder paste printing is the bottleneck that rarely appears in public discussion, yet it determines whether a chip designed at massive cost can actually function when assembled onto a board. A yield collapse at the assembly stage can turn a cutting-edge product into a financial disaster.
From TNO and imec research to commercialization
Keiron’s technology originated at TNO Holst Centre, a research collaboration between the Dutch organization TNO and Belgium’s semiconductor research institute imec. The Holst Centre has long specialized in thin-film electronics, flexible sensors, and advanced manufacturing process research. The transfer of the intellectual property to Keiron is part of a broader pattern in the Netherlands of spinning out deep-tech companies from public research institutes.
Keiron is now headquartered in Eindhoven, a city that has become a hub for semiconductor and high-tech engineering. The presence of ASML, NXP Semiconductors, and the Brainport innovation ecosystem provides a dense network of talent, suppliers, and potential customers. Eindhoven’s regional development organizations have actively supported photonics, precision engineering, and advanced manufacturing startups, making it a natural home for Keiron’s ambitions.
Market opportunity and competitive landscape
The electronics assembly market is enormous. PCBs are the foundation of virtually every electronic product, and global PCB manufacturing revenue exceeds tens of billions of dollars per year. When assembly, components, testing, and downstream services are included, the total market is worth more than €600 billion annually. Even a small improvement in yield and efficiency can generate substantial cost savings across the industry.
Keiron’s direct competitors are stencil manufacturers, conventional solder paste printers, and emerging digital deposition companies. Stencil technology is inexpensive and deeply entrenched, but its limitations are becoming harder to ignore. Digital printing methods like LIFT offer flexibility and precision, though scaling to high-volume production is challenging. Keiron’s Series A funding is intended to demonstrate that its system can operate reliably at production speeds and compete with conventional printing on total cost of ownership.
The investment round and strategic partners
Invest-NL is the Dutch national promotional financial institution, focused on impact investing and technology transitions. DeepTechXL is a Dutch venture fund specializing in deep technologies such as photonics, quantum, and advanced manufacturing. Waves Capital is an investor focused on industrial technology and sustainability. The participation of Singapore’s ATUM Ventures signals an intention to expand into Asia-Pacific, where a large share of global electronics manufacturing is concentrated.
The funding will be used to scale production of the HF2 printer, expand commercial operations in Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, and build a team capable of supporting enterprise customers. Keiron will also continue developing its software platform to integrate with customers’ existing design, simulation, and inspection workflows.
Implications for the future of electronics assembly
As AI chips increase their interconnect counts, advanced packaging techniques such as chiplets, 2.5D and 3D integration will put even more pressure on assembly processes. The industry is moving from a world where only high-end server chips needed advanced packaging to one where data-center GPUs, AI accelerators, and even automotive chips require dense interconnects. This evolution changes the economics of soldering and assembly. Stencil technology, which was optimized for standard pitch components, is not designed for the ultra-fine pitches that are becoming common.
Keiron’s digital approach also creates opportunities for on-the-fly design changes. In traditional stencil manufacturing, a design change requires a new stencil, which can take days and cost thousands of dollars. With a laser-based system, the pattern is stored in software and can be updated instantly. This is especially valuable for prototyping, customized hardware, and industries where products change rapidly, such as telecommunications and AI systems.
Challenges ahead
Scaling a deep-tech startup from prototype to mass market is not easy. Keiron must prove that its system can sustain high throughput on large panels, not just on small test boards. It must also convince conservative manufacturing engineers that a laser-based process is reliable in a factory environment. The company’s early data is encouraging: greater than 95% first-pass yield, doubled uptime, and half the lead time are compelling metrics. But those figures need to be replicated across multiple customer sites and product types.
The cost per unit of solder paste deposition is another factor. LIFT is more energy- and equipment-intensive than stencil printing. Keiron will need to show that the total cost of ownership is competitive, especially for high-volume consumer electronics. Its strongest near-term opportunities are likely in advanced packaging, aerospace, medical devices, and defense, where reliability matters more than cost per board.
A broader strategic context
Governments in Europe, the United States, and Asia are investing heavily in semiconductor manufacturing as part of efforts to build resilient supply chains. The EU Chips Act, the US CHIPS and Science Act, and Japan’s semiconductor strategy all focus on wafer fabrication, but packaging and assembly are essential parts of the value chain. If European companies want to be globally competitive, they need to strengthen their position not only in lithography and materials but also in assembly equipment. Keiron is an example of a European startup trying to create a new standard in a segment historically dominated by Asian and North American equipment makers.
The rise of AI hardware intensifies this need. AI accelerators and high-bandwidth memory are among the most complex products in the semiconductor industry, and their assembly requires precise, flexible manufacturing tools. The company’s ambition is to become the global standard for electronics assembly. That goal is long-term and highly ambitious, but the underlying technology solves a real and growing problem. At €20.7 million, this round is small compared to the capital raised by chipmakers, but it gives Keiron the runway to commercialize its product at a pivotal moment. If AI hardware continues to add interconnects at the current rate, the stencil method it replaces will not survive the decade.