For the second year in a row, NeoCity partner Plug and Play hosted over 50 tech startup entrepreneurs and semiconductor industry leaders at the Plug and Play NeoCity Expo 2025.
Held outdoors on a sunny but blustery Thursday at the NeoCity campus just east of Kissimmee, the focus this year was on aerospace/defense and medical technology.
There were three thoughtprovoking panel discussions with academics and owners of small to medium sized tech companies, as well as Lockheed Martin. Presenters and attendees came from as far away as the United Kingdom.
Several themes seem to be repeated across all industries. First was an expressed need for completely new materials for the various components that make up a semiconductor chip, with enhanced electrical conductivity properties and tolerance for a wide range of temperatures, especially for the aviation and space operating environment.
“We need to be making broad vs. incremental improvements in materials in order to keep pace with world-wide developments and to provide the performance needed to match breakthroughs in other areas of semiconductors,” said Mahyar Khosrval, founder and CEO of Nitride Global, during a panel discussion on “Leapfrog Advances & Domestic Value Streams in Ultrawide Bandgap and Advanced Packaging Materials for Next-Gen Dual Use Applications.”
Another theme that converged with the need for radically better chip materials was the need for secure supply chains, from basic components all the way through to the completed product. Gallium Nitride is currently on top as one of the newer chip component materials, due to its properties that allow higher power densities, faster switching frequencies, and greater thermal resilience. Semiconductors using Gallium Nitride are found in the highest-end sensors and other components on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter, for example. Unfortunately for U.S. strategic defense concerns, the primary source of raw gallium comes from China. There was also discussion on the need to dramatically increase the capability of optical sensors and corresponding image processing for defense, considering other developments, such as hypersonic missiles.
In the area of medical technology, Mauricio Toro, founder and CEO of Daytona Beach- based TechFit Digital Surgery, discussed his company’s efforts to introduce digital surgical planning, 3D printing, and patient-specific implants. Looking to the future, Toro stated that hospitals would have 3D printers to produce non-metallic prosthetics and implants, while medical grade metallic implants would be produced at TechFit’s facility. Digital Surgery would allow surgical teams to “rehearse” complicated surgeries using detailed scans to create a digital “twin” of the actual patient and would also be used for training.
While this is all quite “techy” for most of us, it does illustrate how the NeoCity facility and its partners Plug and Play, IMEC, and Samyoung S&C, to name a few, are at the center of a strategic, fast-paced quest to onshore semiconductor materials research, supply chains, and critical prototype development for later commercial production.
For more information on Plug and Play activities and resources at NeoCity see https://bit.ly/4ffsW1D.
