Hoboken-based Rocket One Inc. has signed a sponsored research agreement with Virginia Commonwealth University to advance SKYMRAM, a skyrmion-based magnetic memory technology with potential applications in AI chips and advanced computing systems.
The one-year research program is scheduled to begin Nov. 1, 2026, and will focus on nanoscale fabrication, materials optimization and device-level testing. A key proof-of-concept milestone will be demonstrating switching of SKYMRAM’s soft magnetic layer.
Rocket One, which trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker RKTO, said the agreement gives the company a defined experimental development program as it pursues advanced semiconductor technologies for AI infrastructure, space and defense applications.
“Building the next generation of AI computing requires advances in the underlying hardware, including how information is stored and switched,” said Robb Knie, CEO of Rocket One. “This agreement establishes a concrete development path for SKYMRAM, with fabrication, characterization and switching milestones designed to test the technology at the device level. Our goal is to build the technical foundation for future chip architectures serving AI infrastructure, space, and defense.”
SKYMRAM research uses skyrmions — nanoscale magnetic structures — as the basis for a proposed magnetic memory architecture. The program will study the material structures and switching behavior needed to move the technology toward possible semiconductor applications.
The planned work includes patterning, etching and characterizing magnetic material stacks designed to host skyrmions; developing and refining thin-film structures for device testing; investigating control of the soft magnetic layer; and refining structures to host skyrmions about 100 nanometers in size.
VCU will lead the project under principal investigator Jayasimha Atulasimha. The agreement also includes a Northwestern University subaward supporting thin-film growth, materials characterization and optimization, with feedback between materials development and device measurements.
The program sets quarterly objectives that progress from initial material-stack fabrication and characterization to switching studies and optimized nanoscale structures. Rocket One said the work is intended to generate evidence to assess SKYMRAM’s technical feasibility and guide later development.
The company emphasized that the program is foundational memory-device research and does not represent completed AI processors or validated system-level performance. Applications in AI infrastructure, space and defense would require further development and application-specific validation, including any testing needed to establish radiation tolerance.
The agreement also gives Rocket One an option to negotiate licenses to intellectual property arising from the project, subject to the agreement’s terms.