SAN DIEGO – With plans to dramatically scale its production capacity, three-dimensional electronic printing company Fabric8Labs agreed to be acquired by Japanese multinational technology company TDK Corporation.
The acquisition, terms undisclosed, came together organically, according to co-founder and CEO Jeff Herman. TDK has been an investor in Fabric8Labs for several years and the two companies have collaborated on product development prior to determining that an acquisition to be mutually beneficial.
“It became clear to us that one of the ways we could accelerate in the market and really become a winner is to combine with an existing business that has scale and quality and all the aspects that are necessary for this technology to really reach the massive scale that we think it will achieve,” Herman said.
Fabric8Labs produces items like wireless and satellite antennas and liquid-cooled computer processing chips via 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing. The company has in the past contracted with chipmakers to build on-chip cooling systems that pull heat away from the chip’s hottest part.
While data centers and computer processing facilities have historically used air cooling to prevent processors overheating and becoming damaged, liquid cooling – the use of chilled water or a chemical coolant pumped through a metal plate attached directly to the processing chips to absorb their heat – has become more and more common.
Ian Winfield, Fabric8Labs’ vice president of product and applications, said the demand the company receives for liquid cooling systems has exploded in recent months.
In December, when Fabric8Labs announced that it raised $50 million in funding, Winfield said the company aimed to raise its production capacity from roughly 5 million components per year to 22 million.
“The joining of Fabric8 and TDK has to be good for customers, otherwise it doesn’t make sense,” Winfield said. “And I would say this is an almost ideal scenario for (our) customers.”
Fabric8Labs, a graduate of the EvoNexus startup incubator, was founded to develop a novel method of 3D printing metal from the atomic level, making denser products and keeping costs low.
The company’s process of electrochemical additive manufacturing, or ECAM, eliminates the need for post-processing while still providing ultra-high-resolution parts. Winfield argued that ECAM has a broad number of uses, making the company attractive to a buyer like TDK.
“They’re doing a wide range of products; we have a technology that can impact a wide range of products: antennas, power delivery, cooling solutions, the list kind of expands on and on with the 3D printing technology,” Winfield said. “So for us, having that kind of integration into a raw manufacturing base across many product categories, we saw as a really key way to maximize the potential for how much value this can create.”
Once the acquisition is fully approved by regulators later this year, Fabric8Labs will continue to operate as a subsidiary of TDK for the foreseeable future, according to Winfield and Herman.
In addition to being able to draw on TDK’s manufacturing capacity and growing the company’s staff, the acquisition is expected to unlock new markets for Fabric8Labs around the world both for ECAM operations and the potential applications for the company’s products.
In a statement, TDK Corporation President and CEO Noboru Saito said Fabric8Labs’ technology is the precise form of innovation the company aims to acquire and scale.
“As data center infrastructure continues to scale and the performance demands on advanced electronics intensify, we envision that by bringing this technology into our global manufacturing network and providing products that determine the performance of next-generation data centers, it will be a significant advantage for our customers,” Saito stated.
Originally published by the San Diego Business Journal, June 22, 2026. Written by Eli Walsh.
About Fabric8Labs
Fabric8Labs, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, California, is pioneering the next generation of manufacturing with its patented Electrochemical Additive Manufacturing (ECAM) technology. Founded in 2015, the company delivers breakthrough solutions across electronics, medical devices, communications, and semiconductor industries. Fabric8Labs’ ECAM technology empowers data center infrastructure, enabling advanced thermal management solutions, power management components, and semiconductor packaging. Learn more at fabric8labs.com.
About TDK Corporation
TDK Corporation (TSE: 6762) is a global technology company and innovation leader in the electronics industry, based in Tokyo, Japan. With the tagline “In Everything, Better” TDK aims to realize a better future across all aspects of life, industry, and society. For over 90 years, TDK has shaped the world from within; from the pioneering ferrite cores to cassette tapes that defined an era, to powering the digital age with advanced components, sensors, and batteries, leading the way towards a more sustainable future. United by TDK Venture Spirit, a start-up mentality built on visions, courage and mutual trust, TDK’s passionate team members around the globe pursue better—for ourselves, customers, partners, and the world. Today, the state-of-the-art technologies of TDK are in everything, from industrial applications, energy systems, electric vehicles, to smartphones and gaming, at the core of modern life. TDK’s comprehensive, innovative-driven portfolio includes cutting-edge passive components, sensors and sensor systems, power supplies, lithium-ion and solid-state batteries, magnetic heads, AI and enterprise software solutions, and more—featuring numerous market-leading products. These are marketed under the product brands TDK, InvenSense, Micronas, Tronics, TDK-Lambda, TDK SensEI, and ATL. Positioning the AI ecosystem as a key strategic area, TDK leverages its global network across the automotive, information and communication technology, and industrial equipment sectors to expand its business in a wide range of fields. In fiscal 2026, TDK posted total sales of USD 16.6 billion and employed about 107,000 people worldwide. Learn More at TDK.com
About EvoNexus
EvoNexus is California’s leading nonprofit technology startup incubator, with locations in San Diego and Irvine. Since its formation in 2010, EvoNexus has successfully built 289 companies with an exceptional survival rate of over 85%, with portfolio companies securing over $2.4B in cumulative venture funding — backed by a network of more than 400 venture capital and independent investors — and achieving 63 acquisitions alongside 1 successful IPO, with additional public market exits on the horizon and over $6 billion in pre-exit valuations. Backed by an elite network of global corporate partners — including Qualcomm, AMD, BAE Systems, Viasat, ResMed, LG, Murata, and EMD Electronics — EvoNexus continues to drive massive economic impact across Southern California’s innovation economy, culminating in a record-breaking year with $619M raised in 2025 alone.