GENEVA, Switzerland, and BOSTON, MA, July 14, 2025 – STMicroelectronics and Metalenz have announced a license agreement that expands the use of Metalenz’s IP to produce metasurface optics. The agreement enables ST to integrate the IP into its existing 300mm semiconductor and optical production processes, including testing and qualification. This strengthens ST’s ability to scale metasurface technology across a range of applications.
“STMicroelectronics is the unique supplier on the market offering a groundbreaking combination of optics and semiconductor technology. Since 2022, we have shipped well over 140 million metasurface optics and FlightSense modules using Metalenz IP. The new license agreement with Metalenz bolsters our technology leadership in consumer, industrial and automotive segments, and will enable new opportunities from smartphone applications like biometrics, LIDAR and camera assist, to robotics, gesture recognition, or object detection,” underlined Alexandre Balmefrezol, executive vice president and general manager of STMicroelectronics’s imaging sub-group. “Our unique model, processing optical technology in our 300mm semiconductor fab, ensures high precision, cost-effectiveness, and scalability to meet the requests of our customers for high-volume, complex applications.”
“Our agreement with STMicroelectronics has the potential to further fast-track the adoption of metasurfaces from their origins at Harvard to adoption by market leading consumer electronics companies,” said Rob Devlin, co-founder and CEO of Metalenz. “By enabling the shift of optics production into semiconductor manufacturing, this agreement has the possibility to further redefine the sensing ecosystem. As use cases for 3D sensing continue to expand, ST’s technology leadership in the market together with our IP leadership solidifies ST and Metalenz as the dominant forces in the emergent metasurface market we created.”
The license agreement aims to address the market opportunity for metasurface optics projected to experience growth to reach $2B by 2029*; driven by the industry’s role in emerging display and imaging applications. (*Yole Group, Optical Metasurfaces, 2024 report)
Source: STMicroelectronics
About STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics, established in 1987 through the merger of Italy’s SGS Microelettronica and France’s Thomson Semiconducteurs, is a global semiconductor company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The company offers a range of products, including analog chips, discrete power semiconductors, microcontrollers, and sensors, serving industries such as automotive, industrial, personal electronics, communications equipment, and computers. In 2023, STMicroelectronics reported revenues of $17.3 billion, with over 50,000 employees worldwide and offices in 40 countries. The company is committed to sustainability, aiming for carbon neutrality in scope 1 and 2 emissions, and partially scope 3, by 2027.
About Metalenz
Metalenz, founded in 2016 and based in Boston, develops meta-optic components that apply semiconductor manufacturing techniques to produce flat, compact optical lenses. Spun out of Harvard’s Capasso Lab, the company holds over 20 patents related to metasurface technology. Its products include polarization-sensitive sensors and structured light projectors designed for use in smartphones, consumer electronics, automotive LiDAR, and robotic systems. By replacing curved lenses with planar optics, Metalenz enables smaller form factors, improved polarization control, and reduced optical noise. The company operates on a fabless model, relying on semiconductor foundries for production. Metalenz generates an estimated annual revenue of $11 million and supplies its technology to OEMs and system integrators across multiple sectors.