Canatu has received a further CNT100 SEMI reactor order from Korean semiconductor company Fine Semitech Corporation, extending the scale-up of carbon nanotube membrane production for advanced lithography applications.
The total value of the reactor order, including previously ordered long-lead items, exceeds €5 million. Royalties and other recurring elements are excluded from that figure. Canatu expects the equipment to be delivered during 2027, with some revenue recognised in the second half of 2026 and the majority falling next year.
The order converts preparatory work into a complete reactor programme. FST had already ordered long-lead items associated with a possible second CNT100 SEMI machine, but that earlier purchase did not commit it to the full reactor. The latest agreement now expands the customer’s manufacturing capacity for carbon nanotube, or CNT, pellicle membranes.
Canatu and FST have spent several years moving the technology through industrialisation. Canatu shipped its first CNT100 SEMI reactor in September 2024, with the reactor and associated post-processing equipment receiving customer approval in July 2025. A commercial production licence followed in October 2025, establishing the framework for royalty-bearing manufacture at FST.
The equipment supports a specialised but increasingly important part of semiconductor production. Extreme ultraviolet lithography uses highly controlled light to transfer extremely small circuit patterns onto wafers. The photomask carrying those patterns has to remain free from particles because contamination can produce defects across repeated exposures.
A pellicle provides a protective membrane over the photomask. The engineering difficulty lies in protecting the mask without blocking too much EUV energy or degrading under the thermal and mechanical conditions inside the lithography system. As scanner power rises, those demands become more severe.
Canatu’s manufacturing process deposits networks of carbon nanotubes into extremely thin membranes. CNT structures combine low mass with mechanical strength and high temperature tolerance, giving the material characteristics that make it suitable for development as an EUV pellicle. The reactor is the production equipment used to create those membranes at industrial scale.
That distinction is important commercially. Canatu is not supplying complete lithography systems or fabricating semiconductors itself. It provides CNT products, proprietary reactor equipment, and licensed manufacturing technology used by customers within the semiconductor supply chain.
The FST arrangement therefore gives Canatu several potential revenue streams from the same installed equipment. The reactor produces an initial equipment sale, while commercial production can subsequently generate licence royalties and demand for proprietary consumables used in the CNT manufacturing process.
Recurring revenue remains dependent on the customer moving successfully into sustained commercial output. Semiconductor manufacturing equipment and materials go through lengthy qualification because process changes can affect yield across wafers containing extremely high-value devices. Installing additional production equipment does not by itself guarantee rapid volume growth.
The second reactor nevertheless removes one constraint: available CNT membrane manufacturing capacity. FST’s decision to progress from long-lead preparation to a complete machine indicates that it is planning for greater output than could be supported by the initial installation alone.
Canatu is making that investment case while managing a more difficult near-term revenue picture. In a separate announcement issued minutes after the reactor order, the company disclosed preliminary first-half 2026 revenue of €4.2 million, compared with €7.3 million a year earlier, and revised its full-year outlook downwards.
The contrast is useful. Semiconductor equipment businesses can secure substantial projects while experiencing uneven revenue between reporting periods because reactor manufacturing, customer acceptance, qualification, and production ramp-up do not follow neat quarterly schedules. The FST order is weighted heavily towards 2027 for precisely that reason.
Canatu also expects higher-power EUV systems to increase the technical demands placed on pellicles as advanced semiconductor production develops. That may enlarge the addressable market for CNT membranes, but adoption will still depend on performance in customer processes rather than the material’s theoretical advantages alone.
The latest order consequently represents a tangible industrial milestone rather than proof that CNT pellicles have become a universal semiconductor standard. A first FST reactor has already progressed through customer approval and commercial licensing; the second now gives the customer additional manufacturing capacity and Canatu another installed platform capable of generating recurring revenue.
Delivery during 2027 will move the programme into its next practical phase. The more significant measure will follow afterwards, when additional reactor capacity has to translate into qualified pellicles, sustained production volumes, and royalty income from one of semiconductor manufacturing’s more demanding process environments.
