Waferira

Waferira runs the fab from lot start to metrology: litho, etch, deposition and CMP process control, run-to-run and advanced process control, AI defect classification and wafer and reticle inspection, virtual metrology, yield-weighted dispatch and scheduling, robotic FOUP and wafer handling, and an as-run fab twin that checks yield, uniformity and cycle time before the lot runs.

A fab is among the most complex manufacturing processes ever built, and a single overlay drift or etch excursion can scrap a lot worth far more than the tool that caused it. The process engineers who hold that tacit knowledge are scarce and stretched across hundreds of steps, and most excursions are only found at inspection. Sebastian and Adrian are closing the loop at the tool and the lot instead of reporting on it afterwards, and they built the audit trail first, which is what a fab will actually let near its controls.

The founders

Sebastian Ward

Co-founder & CEO

Sebastian runs the company and the commercial side: which fab module goes first, what number it is judged on, and who in the fab signs off on the baseline. He started Waferira because fabs still find a yield excursion or an overlay drift at inspection, long after the lot and the tool that caused it.

Adrian Phillips

Co-founder & CTO

Adrian leads engineering: the fab-edge runtime, the perception and process-control models, the as-run wafer and tool twin, the audit architecture, and the bounded write-back into tool and run-to-run controls. He is why every agent earns its authority in shadow mode first, with an evidence trail behind each action.

How it's gone

• 2026

  We came in

  $1M seed to take the first fab modules from shadow mode to bounded control.

• 2026

  Where it starts

  Yield excursions and rework first: baselines run against live lots before any agent is given write authority.

• 2026

  Building the team

  Hiring fab-edge perception, process-control and OT integration engineers, and people who have run a fab module.