Investments · Semiconductors
Resonac and Nitto Denko invest in Matter Venture Partners' $450 million hard-tech fund
- Investor
- Resonac and Nitto Denko (Tokyo and Osaka)
- In
- Matter Venture Partners Fund II, Los Altos, California
- Value
- $10M (about ¥1.5B) from Nitto Denko; Resonac's amount not disclosed. The fund totals $450M.
- Status
- Completed. Both companies announced their limited-partner investments in September 2026.
- Date
- 2026-09-17
Nitto Denko and Resonac each invested as limited partners in Matter Venture Partners Fund II, a California venture fund that closed at $450 million in September. Nitto committed $10 million; Resonac invested through its US unit, Resonac America, and did not disclose an amount. The fund backs early-stage hard-tech startups in chips, robotics and physical AI, AI infrastructure and advanced manufacturing. ASML and TSMC are among its other limited partners.
Why it matters
Fund stakes are a lighter way into US deal flow than outright acquisitions, giving both materials makers early sight of startups in chips and physical AI. They also line up with Tokyo's signal that AI and chips will weigh heavily in the next round of the $550 billion US investment program.
About the fund
Matter Venture Partners, based in Los Altos, California, was founded in 2023 by Wen Hsieh, who spent 17 years at Kleiner Perkins leading its hard-tech investing, with Haomiao Huang and Mel Tang, a former finance chief of Ring. Its other corporate backers include the Development Bank of Japan, Sojitz, Quanta Computer and Kleiner Perkins.
Resonac in the US
Resonac said the US leads AI development and that being part of its technology community is essential. In July 2024 it set up US-JOINT, a US research group on next-generation chip packaging, whose research site began full operation in April 2026.
Sources
Kakehashi M&A News home
