August 31, 2020 – Metamaterial Inc. (META), a developer of high-performance functional materials and nanocomposites, has today announced that it has signed a ten-year lease for an approximately 53,000 square foot facility, which will host holography and lithography R&D labs and the next phase of META’s volume manufacturing. META expects to open the facility before the end of 2020, following leasehold improvements.
In 2019, META acquired from augmented reality (AR) smart glasses company, North, Inc., the 1st and 2nd generation roll-to-roll holographic manufacturing technology (originally developed by Intel for its Vaunt AR glasses). The company stated that it believes it will be “positioned to capture a significant portion of this market by being able to mass manufacture, on a cost-effective basis, the required holographic optical components” for the augmented reality smart glasses market.
According to META, the 2nd generation manufacturing line is capable of 100,000+ units per month, to support AR and other holographic products, such as automotive HUD displays, laser glare protection, optical filters, diffractive optics, and other photonic applications. The company added that capacity could be increased to 200,000 units per month with the addition of a second, eight-hour shift.
“We are excited to take this important step towards opening one of the first high volume, advanced metamaterials manufacturing facilities globally. We believe this new facility will enable us to meet the initial requirements for high performance optical, electromagnetic, and conductive products from our growing list of customers and corporate development partners in aerospace, automotive and consumer electronic applications,” said George Palikaras, President and CEO, META.
META’s new facility is located in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in close proximity to the Halifax International Airport and the Port of Halifax, which the company states will provide it with global access to both suppliers and customers. This new location also enables META to continue its collaboration with a number of Canada’s leading Universities and Colleges in Nova Scotia.
Video credit: META / Vimeo
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.