SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Swave Photonics, an innovator in Holographic eXtended Reality (HXR) technology to bring the Metaverse to life, today announced the appointment of Mike Noonen as CEO. Noonen joins Swave to expand the investment and commercialization of immersive 3D gigapixel holographic projection chips for a wide range of emerging AR/VR and metaverse applications benefiting from truly realistic 3D experiences.
Noonen takes over the management of Théodore Marescaux who guided the company through its initial stages of technology development, customer engagement and financing. He joins the management team which includes Swave Founder and Chief Product Officer Theodore Marescaux, Founder and COO Dmitri Choutov, and Chairman of the Board, Pieter Vorenkamp.
Building on more than seven years of technology development at imec, Swave has pioneered a next-generation approach to 3D holography, Holographic eXtended Reality (HXR) technology, which delivers realistic high-resolution 3D images that are visible to the naked eye, with no compromise. Powered by diffractive photonics with <250nm pixel pitch, HXR chips enable 1000x better pixel resolution with billions of tiny, dense pixels to enable true realistic 20/20 viewing without requiring viewers to wear headsets Smart AR/VR or eyeglasses.
“Swave’s vision and innovative 3D holographic technology hold great promise for products that bring the metaverse to life and function,” said Peter Vanbekbergen, partner at imec.xpand and early investor in Swave. “We look forward to working with Mike Noonen as he leads Swave into its next phase of growth and commercial success. We are also grateful to Théodore Marescaux for his leadership in bringing Swave to this point.
“I’m thrilled and honored to join the Swave team, as our HXR technology and products will transform the massive Metaverse market by enabling immersive, ultra-high resolution, realistic, and true holographic displays,” said Mike Noonen. “HXR will impact and enhance the experience of gaming, entertainment, education, medical, automotive, advertising and communications. I applaud Theo, Dmitri and the entire Swave team for establishing such a solid business foundation and developing cutting-edge photonic pixel technology that is gaining industry attention.
“Mike’s executive leadership and extensive operational experience are critical assets as we accelerate investments, partnerships, product development and commercialization of our next-generation HXR technology,” said Théodore Marescaux, chief product officer at Wave. “Swave is well positioned to be a disruptive force in today’s dynamic and rapidly changing metaverse landscape. Alignment of our leadership team and resources is critical to our continued growth and market success. We look forward to working with Mike as we expand the team, develop our initial markets and deliver the first samples of our HXR solution over the coming year.
About Mike Noonen
Mike Noonen has 30 years of experience leading technology companies, which has resulted in two IPOs and multiple acquisitions. Most recently, Noonen was CEO of MixComm, which was acquired by Sivers Semiconductors earlier this year. He currently serves on the board of directors of SES.ai (NYSE: SES) and SK Growth Opportunities Corporation (NASDAQ: SKGR). Noonen was the president and co-founder of Silicon Catalyst, the world’s first semiconductor incubator. He has also held leadership positions at GlobalFoundries, NXP Semiconductors, National Semiconductor, Cisco Systems and 8×8. He previously served on the board of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA). He holds a BSEE from Colorado State University and several patents in Internet telephony and video communications.
About Swave HXR Technology
Swave’s Holographic Extended Reality (HXR) Technology is the holy grail of the metaverse, delivering realistic, high-resolution 3D images indistinguishable from reality. Swave’s HXR technology projects lifelike holographic images that eliminate current AR/VR/XR challenges of focal depth and eye tracking, so viewers can easily focus on near and far objects. More importantly, HXR chips are manufactured using standard CMOS technology, which enables cost-effective scaling.
Swave technology can also power holographic headsets that deliver immersive 3D AR/VR/XR experiences with stunning high resolution, perfect depth of field, and 180-degree to 360-degree viewing angles, all without the headaches encountered by users of conventional helmets. Applications powered by gigapixel HXR technology will be able to pass the Turing visual test in which virtual reality is virtually indistinguishable from real-world images that humans see with their own eyes.
Swave is expanding its management and engineering teams and hiring in key areas. Visit swave.io to learn more about career opportunities.
About Swave
Swave Photonics is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and markets holographic chips based on proprietary diffractive photonics technology. Its mission is to bring the metaverse to life and enable display makers and content creators to disrupt the viewing market with immersive, ultra-high resolution, realistic and authentic holographic displays. Swave envisions a world where holographic displays empower everyone to visualize the impossible, collaborate and achieve more. www.swave.io