Nicslab

Nicslab is a fabless semiconductor company that engineers and develops chip-scale integrated electronic and photonic solutions. Founded in 2017 by Dr. Andri Mahendra, the company originated from his PhD research on entanglement photonic chips for quantum computing and communications at the University of Sydney. Dr. Mahendra, who also holds a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering and has experience at IBM TJ Watson, identified a market gap in controlling light on photonic chips, which led to the creation of Nicslab.

The company operates on a fabless business model, focusing on the design and sale of its proprietary technologies while outsourcing the manufacturing process. Nicslab's core market includes sectors such as data centers, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, instrumentation, autonomous vehicles, and aerospace. Its client base features prominent names like NASA, the US Army, and Nvidia. Revenue is generated through the sale of hardware, software, and fabless IC services, with a reported gross profit margin of 67%. The company also has a history of participating in numerous accelerator programs, including INCUBATE, The Batchery, Techstars Space Accelerator, Garage+, and Luminate, securing significant funding for growth and development.

Nicslab's main product line revolves around its multichannel Source Measurement Units (SMUs), such as the XPOW and the faster XDAC series. These units are compact, programmable, and scalable systems that integrate power supply, signal processing, sensors, and controls into a single solution. Designed for low-power applications, they serve a range of uses from simple electronic integrated circuits to complex photonic integrated circuits (PICs), simplifying the testing process and reducing costs for PIC development. A key benefit is the ability to control and test up to 1,000 channels simultaneously. The systems are compatible with multiple programming languages including Python, C++, Matlab, and LabVIEW, allowing for seamless integration into existing workflows.

Keywords: fabless semiconductor, photonic integrated circuits, source measurement unit, quantum computing, chip-scale solutions, optical solutions, data center infrastructure, AI hardware, photonic testing, multichannel SMU, Andri Mahendra, electronic-photonic integration, silicon photonics, test and measurement, Luminate NY, Techstars, integrated photonics, advanced manufacturing, optical communications, semiconductor testing