UNITED STATES OF AMERICA —Forge Nano Holdings, Inc. has officially closed its acquisition of HZO, Inc., executing an all-stock transaction involving approximately 7.3 million shares of common stock. After accounting for shares previously held, the transaction results in a net issuance of approximately 5.1 million shares, with about 1.5 million shares placed in a holdback escrow for a twelve-month period. Under the structural agreement, HZO will operate as an independent, wholly owned subsidiary retaining its brand identity and current executive leadership.
The strategic consolidation merges Forge Nano's Atomic Armor atomic layer deposition platform-which specializes in angstrom-level precision films geared toward advanced chip manufacturing and defense batteries-with HZO's high-volume Parylene and thin-film protective coating operations. HZO, headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina, brings established production facilities spanning the United States, Mexico, and Vietnam, along with an extensive commercial portfolio serving prominent manufacturers in consumer electronics, the Internet of Things, the energy sector, medical devices, and automotive industries. Forge Nano is a U.S.-based semiconductor equipment and advanced materials provider headquartered in Thornton, Colorado, specializing in nanoscale surface engineering for industrial applications.
This structural combination addresses a fundamental manufacturing challenge across modern hardware development: protecting sensitive electronic components and energy units from moisture, chemical exposure, and corrosive environmental factors across varying operational scales. By uniting nanoscale laboratory science with high-volume manufacturing lines, the merged entity establishes a unified supply chain partner capable of delivering protection from raw semiconductor wafers and battery cells to fully assembled electronic products. Furthermore, the integration positions the combined organization to leverage shared administrative functions, synchronized procurement pipelines, and adjacent physical manufacturing footprints in North Carolina to drive operational efficiency.
The transaction significantly impacts the electronics, semiconductor, and defense manufacturing sectors by streamlining component protection lifecycles and expanding market access for advanced material technologies. Industry stakeholders, including major consumer electronics brands and defense contractors, gain a single-source provider for both precision atomic-level engineering and high-throughput commercial finishing. For market investors, the transaction represents a strategic scaling effort intended to accelerate commercial adoption, leverage international manufacturing capacity, and enhance competitive positioning within high-growth technology hardware ecosystems.
