Ares Materials is a Plano, Texas advanced-materials company building AI-designed optical polymers for the display industry. Spun out of the University of Texas at Dallas in 2016, it uses thiol-click chemistry and a machine-learning platform called Pylux to formulate solvent-free, PFAS-free films, adhesives, coatings and cover windows for foldable phones, AR/VR devices and other flexible electronics - aiming for high optical clarity, mechanical durability and up to 90% lower CO2 emissions than incumbent materials.
Light Polymers is a Santa Clara nanochemistry company built around lyotropic liquid crystals - water-based materials that can be coated directly onto surfaces to manage light. Its flagship innovation is a direct-coat polarizer that replaces the laminated films used in OLED, MicroLED, and AR/VR displays, aiming for thinner, brighter, lower-cost optics with a simpler supply chain. Founded in 2013, the company runs chemical synthesis and R&D in California and application engineering and manufacturing in Hsinchu, Taiwan.