Advanced manufacturing company Forge Nano going public

Forge Nano, a Thornton-based advanced manufacturing company specializing in atomic layer deposition technology, is going public through a deal valued at nearly $1.6 billion, marking one of the largest IPOs in the advanced manufacturing sector this year.

The company's core technology enhances the performance of batteries and semiconductor chips by applying ultra-thin coatings at the atomic level — a process that improves energy density, longevity, and thermal stability. In an era where both the EV battery market and the semiconductor supply chain are strategic national priorities, Forge Nano's timing is difficult to fault.

The IPO comes amid surging investor interest in companies that sit at the intersection of manufacturing and national security. The CHIPS Act and subsequent federal investments have created a tailwind for domestic semiconductor manufacturing, and Forge Nano's technology applies directly to that pipeline. Battery makers, chip fabricators, and defense contractors are all potential customers for a technology that promises to make existing materials work better without requiring entirely new chemistries.

The $1.6 billion valuation reflects both the company's existing contracts and the market's willingness to price in future growth. Forge Nano has partnerships with major battery manufacturers and has demonstrated its technology at scale, but like many manufacturing-focused companies going public, the gap between current revenue and projected market opportunity is where the investment thesis lives — or dies.

What This Means For You: Forge Nano's IPO is a signal that the advanced manufacturing renaissance is moving from rhetoric to reality. If you follow the battery or semiconductor industries, atomic layer deposition is a technology to watch — it's the kind of incremental improvement that doesn't make headlines but shifts the economics of entire supply chains. For investors, the question is whether Forge Nano can scale its technology fast enough to justify a $1.6 billion price tag in a market that has recently punished overpromised manufacturing plays.