The strong brand of Kontrox technology has fuelled the Finnish company into negotiations with major international players in the compound semiconductor industry. A commercial breakthrough is in sight in high-power lasers, but the greatest business potential lies in power electronics.
More effective and reliable high-power lasers. Brighter and sharper smart device displays. More energy-efficient data centres. The Finnish company Comptek Solutions aims for such impacts.
Compound semiconductors, such as gallium arsenide, are at the core of the company’s operations. They are used in high-tech manufacturing, when silicon’s properties are no longer sufficient: when faster, more efficient, or light-based technologies are required.
One of the key challenges of compound semiconductors is their natural tendency to oxidise. It can reduce the performance of electronic components and cause defects. Comptek Solutions’ Kontrox-technology addresses this problem.
– We have found a way to control the oxidation process in compound semiconductors. Thus, we can reduce the defects in materials, says Comptek Solutions CEO and co-founder Vicente Calvo Alonso.
Bringing a Turnkey Solution to Market
Comptek Solutions is on the verge of commercialising its technology. Kontrox has been applied the furthest with customers manufacturing high-power laser chips.
The company offers its customers a turkey solution: a technology licence and a device developed and built by Comptek Solutions, tailored to fit the customer’s production line. Calvo Alonso hopes to sell the first licences and equipment in 2026.
– We have been piloting this with at least four companies, getting very good results, he says.
Meanwhile, the company is carrying out customer projects related to, for instance, power electronics and photonics. Calvo Alonso notes that Kontrox-technology already has a strong brand and the solution is attracting interest in the compound semiconductor industry.
– We get to sit in the same tables with gurus in many big companies in the industry.
Global and Complex Business
Comptek Solutions has targeted the global market from the very beginning. For example, its customers in the high-power laser sector come from Germany, Japan, the USA, and China.
Calvo Alonso states that selling deep technology is complex. It requires a profound understanding of the customer’s production process and building a relationship with the company’s management, production and R&D teams. Integrating Kontrox technology into a customer’s production line often takes several years.
– That is why it is important to identify key potential customers and try to build a relationship with them.
Developing and selling deep technology is also costly, with continuous research required. According to Calvo Alonso, investors and especially public funders, such as Business Finland and the EU, have played a key role in the company’s journey to date.
Even modest funding instruments can make a difference. As an example, Calvo Alonso mentions Business Turku’s RDI Voucher for Business Development, which helped Comptek Solutions to hire an Iranian thesis student.
State-of-the-Art R&D Lab Serving Industrial Needs
Comptek Solutions is deeply rooted in materials science research. The co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Doctor of Physics Jouko Lång, developed the company’s core technology with his colleagues during his doctoral thesis at the University of Turku.
The company was founded in 2017. Today, there are 44 granted or pending patents covering different aspects of Comptek Solutions’ technology.
Calvo Alonso thinks that the biggest challenge for a deep technology startup is adapting an academic solution to industrial needs. This is why Comptek Solutions has, from day one, ambitiously developed its own laboratory with research and pilot equipment. A new clean room was completed at the end of 2025.
– These facilities represent a major step toward bridging R&D and industrial manufacturing, Calvo Alonso says.
The company’s vision is to create “ALD 2.0”, combining Kontrox with the mainstream ALD ((Atomic Layer Deposition) technology used in the compound semiconductor industry. The EU-funded pilot line combining these two technologies is already in operation in Comptek Solutions lab.
If the mass producers in the compound semiconductor industry can be convinced of the solution, the business prospects are enormous. Calvo Alonso sees the most significant revenue opportunities in power electronics.
– Our business model for big volumes is technology licencing for big manufacturers. It could mean hundreds of millions of euros in royalties per year, when our solution is fully implemented, he says.
Text and pictures: Heidi Pelander