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Carbon nanotubes emerge as a candidate material for future semiconductor devices, advanced batteries, conductive polymers, and water-treatment systems. Bengaluru, India-based NoPo Nanotechnologies positions itself as a supplier of these materials by scaling production of single-walled carbon nanotubes and developing application-specific products for electronics and energy storage markets.Founded in 2011 by Gadhadar Reddy and Robert Kelley Bradley, NoPo Nanotechnologies has grown into a 50-member team that manufactures single-walled carbon nanotubes—materials with walls just one carbon atom thick and diameters about 200,000× smaller than a strand of human hair.In an exclusive conversation with EE Times, co-founder and CEO Gadhadar Reddy, said, “The challenge is not only producing them but also ensuring they all have the same dimensions so that they exhibit the desired properties.” NoPo Nanotechnologies has recently inaugurated a pilot production line and is setting up a new production plant in Bengaluru that it claims will be the world’s second-largest carbon nanotube production facility and the first of its kind in this part of Asia. The facility is intended to supply battery manufacturing lines directly. By Vibheesh Bharathan, Director, Head of PSOC™ Multi-Sense MCUs, Infineon 06.15.2026 By GigaDevice 06.11.2026 By Marc Biehn, Head of Product Group Industrial Consumer Magnetic Sensing; Sebastian Maerz, Business Developer Magnetic Sensing, Infineon Technologies AG 06.09.2026 The company raised $3 million in pre-Series A funding round two years ago from Mission10X, Inflexor, and family offices. Since then, it has expanded nanotube production throughput, stabilized applications for the material, and begun preparations for a Series A funding round to support a larger manufacturing plant. Historically, the global market for single-walled carbon nanotubes has been led by Luxembourg-headquartered OCSiAl, one of the world’s largest producers of the material, with manufacturing and research operations across Europe and Asia. Reddy said many customers are now seeking alternative suppliers, creating opportunities for new manufacturers such as NoPo.Process control challengeCarbon nanotubes were first discovered in the 1990s. However, most researchers attempting commercial production could only manufacture nanotubes in batches, with performance varying from one batch to another.To address this problem, NoPo Nanotechnologies said it has developed process controls covering more than 200 production parameters. “We have identified more than 200 different parameters that influence production, and we actively control them,” Reddy said.The company manufactures nanotubes using the high-pressure carbon monoxide (HiPco) process, which was developed by co-founder Robert Kelley Bradley together with chemistry Nobel laureate Richard Smalley.Unlike conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) systems, which generally operate under vacuum or near-atmospheric conditions, the HiPco process operates at temperatures above 1,000°C and under much higher pressures. Contamination can halt production immediately, and maintaining consistency requires identical inputs for every production run. Reddy said the process is continuous, allowing nanotube production to continue as long as reactants are supplied.The nanotubes are produced using catalyst particles, typically iron-based, on which carbon atoms assemble into spiral structures that grow into tubes before sealing with end caps.A NoPo Technologies engineer stands beside a HiPco reactor at the company’s Bengaluru facility, holding a sample of carbon nanotube material produced through the process. The reactor is used to manufacture single-walled carbon nanotubes under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions. (Source: NoPo Nanotechnologies)Single-walled nanotubes consist of only one atomic layer. Multi-walled nanotubes contain multiple concentric layers. While multi-walled nanotubes tend to be more conductive, single-walled nanotubes can often deliver similar performance at much lower loading levels.“In conductivity-related applications, users often observe a tenfold difference between the two,” Reddy said.The company’s process produces nanotubes with an average diameter of 0.8 nm and a variation of approximately 0.2 nm.The diameter is especially important for electronics applications because the bandgap of a nanotube depends on its size. Carbon nanotubes can exhibit bandgaps ranging from 0 to 2 electron volts, allowing researchers to select specific electrical properties by separating nanotubes according to their diameter.After production, NoPo performs a separation process that classifies nanotubes according to diameter and corresponding bandgap. The enriched materials are then supplied to semiconductor and electronics customers.The company also works with chirality-controlled nanotubes. In nanotube science, chirality refers to the arrangement of carbon atoms within the structure and determines whether a nanotube behaves as a semiconductor or as a metallic conductor.Reddy said the company can separate nanotubes according to chirality and even distinguish between enantiomers within the same chirality class.Battery and chip marketsNoPo’s current commercial focus is on batteries and polymers. Carbon nanotubes are being explored for semiconductor nodes beyond 2 nm. In these applications, the nanotube itself acts as a transistor. Reddy explained that a nanotube transistor can be approximately 1-nm wide and 10-nm long, compared with more than 30×30 nm for a transistor at a 2-nm process node.Single-walled nanotubes also function as direct bandgap semiconductors, avoiding some of the heat-generation limitations associated with silicon. Demonstrations have shown nanotube devices operating at clock speeds above 100 gigahertz.The company is currently working with Taiwan’s leading chip manufacturer—which Reddy did not identify by name—although the relationship remains at the R&D stage. “They are evaluating the material within their own manufacturing processes,” Reddy said.Adoption remains slower for semiconductors than for batteries and polymers. Customers evaluating polymer applications typically require about one month, while battery customers require between one and two years for automotive applications and four to six months for some non-automotive uses.Battery applications currently focus on silicon anodes. One method of increasing battery capacity is incorporating silicon into the anode. However, silicon is unstable and requires single-walled carbon nanotubes to stabilize it.Reddy said the company supplies nanotube dispersions that are incorporated into anode slurries. He believes carbon nanotubes have already reached commercial viability in battery applications, adding about 1% to battery costs while improving capacity, cycle life, and charging performance, according to the company’s validation tests.Nanotubes are already being used in premium smartphones and high-end automotive batteries through materials supplied by existing market participants.The company is also studying sodium-ion batteries through a feasibility project funded by India’s Technology Development Board and conducted with an undisclosed Israeli partner. Early results have demonstrated improvements in both charging performance and capacity.Sodium-ion batteries are often promoted as a lower-cost alternative capable of exceeding 20,000 charge cycles. Demand is increasing globally as battery manufacturers seek alternatives to existing supply chains.Local supply chainRather than selling raw nanotubes, NoPo Technologies said it converts almost all production into dispersions. Individual nanotubes are invisible to the naked eye and require equipment such as a transmission electron microscope (TEM) for observation. In bulk form, however, they appear as a black, fluffy powder.The company said it removes residual metal particles before converting the material into stable dispersions that customers can directly incorporate into battery slurries and polymer formulations.“We do not intend to sell raw nanotubes,” Reddy said. “It is much more practical to provide the material in a ready-to-use form.”The company’s R&D facility spans approximately 1,486.45 square meters (16,000 square feet). It houses reactor clusters, purification systems, monitoring systems, dispersion-processing equipment, and material characterization facilities.Evaluation quantities vary by market. Polymer customers typically evaluate between 25 and 100 kilograms of material. Battery customers generally require between 1 and 10 kilograms. Commercial orders are usually measured in metric tons.Localization has also become a major part of NoPo’s strategy. Reddy indicated that about 90% of the company’s inputs, including reactor systems, heating elements, pressure vessels, filter assemblies, and catalysts, are sourced or manufactured locally in India. The company also developed its own gas compressors during the Covid-19 period when delivery lead times for commercial systems extended to nearly two years.“That is one of the advantages we have in the market because we control much of the supply chain from end to end,” he said.Beyond electronicsThe company also supplies evaluation materials to battery manufacturers and is working with Taiwan’s leading chip manufacturer—which Reddy did not explicitly name—on semiconductor research. Beyond batteries and semiconductors, NoPo has developed carbon nanotube membranes for water purification. The technology has attracted support through programs run by NITI Aayog, the Indian Navy, Karnataka’s Elevate 100 initiative, and XPRIZE.More recently, NoPo participated in the XPRIZE water scarcity challenge and became the only Indian team to qualify. The company won a semi-final round and received a finalist award after demonstrating a membrane that achieved three times the water flow of conventional desalination membranes for the same membrane a