NTT DOCOMO Ventures Invests in QD Laser

NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO, Takayuki Inagawa) has invested in QD Laser, Inc. (headquartered in Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa, Japan; President and CEO, Mitsuru Sugawara) through the fund it operates. QD Laser develops, manufactures, and sells cutting-edge semiconductor laser parts, retinal scanning laser eyewear, and other products based on an innovative quantum dot laser technology.

Semiconductor laser is a fundamental technology essential for the further development of ICT society as it is utilized in the transmission of communication data through optical fibers, material processing, and silicon photonics^*1 as well as in sensing solutions such as LiDAR^*2 installed in autonomous vehicles and compact, high-brightness projectors. The semiconductor laser market is expected to expand to US$8.8 billion by the end of 2022^*3

QD Laser is an offshoot of Fujitsu Limited and was founded in 2006. By leveraging its world-leading nanocrystal technology, this semiconductor startup succeeded in the mass production of quantum dot lasers capable of operating stably even under high temperatures. In 2018, QD Laser applied its advanced technologies to install a compact laser projector with extremely small output into a spectacle-type device, and successfully commercialized the world’s first retinal scanning laser eyewear that directly projects an image onto the user’s retina for image display. The technology developed by QD Laser for projecting a direct image onto the retina using a laser does not require the user to focus his/her eyes to see an image, so it is expected to improve the Quality Of Life (QOL) of patients with ametropia or corneal opacity and weak-sighted individuals. The technology can also be applied for realizing natural-looking Augmented Reality (AR) that people with normal vision can experience. The NTT Group has high expectations for potentials of the retinal scanning laser eyewear developed by QD Laser that it will resolve various social issues and contribute to creating new services through AR.

Looking forward toward 2020 and beyond, NTT DOCOMO Ventures will continue to promote collaborations and the development of new services based on NTT Group’s advanced technologies, as a part of the Group’s ongoing endeavor to resolve social issues and create new values for customers through innovation.

*1 A technology for forming an extremely small optical communication circuit in a silicon semiconductor material for integrating various device functions into a single small chip.
*2 Abbreviation for Light Detection and Ranging. It refers to a method for measuring a distance using laser light.
*3 Allied Market Research, “Global Semiconductor Lasers Market: Opportunity Analysis and Industrial Forecast, 2014 – 2022” (https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/semiconductor-lasers-market)