# Casimir Inc Exits Stealth With $12 Million and a Chip That Claims to Pull Power From Empty Space **Source:** https://glitchwire.com/news/casimir-inc-exits-stealth-with-12-million-and-a-chip-that-claims-to-pull-power-f/ **Published:** 2026-05-13T11:43:39.277Z **Author:** Science Desk ยท Glitchwire **Categories:** Science, Tech ## Summary Harold White's MicroSparc technology claims to harvest energy from quantum vacuum fluctuations. If the physics holds up, the implications run deep. That's a big if. ## Article A Houston startup called [Casimir Inc](https://www.casimirspace.com/) emerged from stealth this week with $12 million in seed funding and a claim that would reshape modern electronics if true: a semiconductor chip that generates continuous electrical power by harvesting energy from quantum vacuum fluctuations. No batteries. No charging. No degradation. [The Debrief reports](https://thedebrief.org/free-energy-from-the-vacuum-warp-drive-pioneer-unveils-battery-free-microsparc-that-allegedly-draws-power-from-the-quantum-vacuum/) that Casimir Inc was founded by former DARPA-funded NASA warp drive pioneer and EagleWorks Lab founder Harold G. "Sonny" White. White spent nearly two decades at NASA researching advanced propulsion concepts, including controversial experiments on the EM Drive and theoretical work on the Alcubierre warp metric. The company's first-generation MicroSparc chip measures 5mm by 5mm and is designed to produce 1.5 volts at 25 microamps. That output is comparable to a small rechargeable battery, but without degradation or replacement cycles. The company's initial market targets ultra-low-power electronics, including tire pressure monitoring systems, embedded sensors, wearables, and other devices where battery replacement is costly or impractical. ## The Physics Claim The technology rests on the Casimir effect, a well-established quantum phenomenon first predicted in 1948 by Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir. The effect arises from the presence of material interfaces that alter the vacuum expectation value of the electromagnetic field's energy. Since the value of this energy depends on the shapes and positions of the materials, the Casimir effect manifests as a force between objects. In 1997, direct experiments quantitatively measured the force to within 5% of theoretical predictions. The MicroSparc chip's design includes pillars between Casimir cavities that collect tunneled electrons. White explains that the quantum vacuum outside the cavity walls "vigorously stimulates electrons in the wall atoms," and occasionally an electron will quantum tunnel from the wall to a central pillar. Once inside the cavity, the quieter environment makes the probability of tunneling back "orders of magnitude lower," creating what White calls a "quantum ratchet." When asked about the most important thing to understand about his team's work, White said the company's design is new, but the underlying physics is not. "The Casimir effect and the quantum vacuum have been part of mainstream quantum mechanics for decades." ## The Skepticism This is where things get complicated. Previous efforts to exploit quantum properties to generate "free energy" have consistently been met with skepticism or labeled pseudoscience due to their seeming violations of conservation laws. Scientists contacted by The Debrief declined to comment publicly on the MicroSparc claims. The physics community has long debated whether usable energy can be extracted from vacuum fluctuations. As theoretical physicist William Unruh of the University of British Columbia put it in [Quanta Magazine](https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-use-quantum-mechanics-to-pull-energy-out-of-nothing-20230222/): "You can't extract energy directly from the vacuum because there's nothing there to give." "The fact that nature allows an energy smaller than zero for a certain period of time at a certain place does not mean that the law of conservation of energy is violated," notes Daniel Grumiller of Vienna University of Technology. He stresses that negative energy flows in one location must be compensated by positive energy flows nearby. ## What Independent Verification Shows According to White, tests were performed in RF-sealed enclosures over several weeks "using precision electrometers capable of measuring signals down to microvolt and attoamp sensitivities." The team observed device outputs "ranging from millivolts to volts at picoamp current levels." White also published "Emergent Quantization from a Dynamic Vacuum" in Physical Review Research on March 9, 2026, providing theoretical foundations for the claims. That's peer-reviewed theory, not peer-reviewed experimental verification of energy extraction. The distinction matters. ## If It Works Beyond its initial IoT applications, Casimir's roadmap extends into consumer electronics and mobility platforms, including electric vehicles, and ultimately into larger-scale energy systems capable of powering homes and commercial infrastructure, a total addressable market exceeding $67 billion. The company says it is building multi-layer Casimir chips and using advanced die-stacking to pack up to 100x more power into the same footprint. The implications would be profound. Sensors that never need battery changes. [Edge AI systems](/news/power-becomes-intelligence-the-intelligence-supply-chain/) that operate indefinitely. IoT infrastructure with radically reduced maintenance costs. The entire power budget of mobile and embedded computing would need to be rethought. Electric vehicles that slowly charge themselves. Data centers that draw less from the grid. If scalable. The $12 million round exceeded its original $8 million target. Scout Ventures led, with participation from Lavrock Ventures, Cottonwood Technology, Capital Factory, American Deep Tech, and Tim Draper of Draper Associates. Kam Ghaffarian, the entrepreneur behind [Axiom Space](/news/vasts-stepping-stone-approach-to-space-stations-could-define-americas-orbital-fu/), Intuitive Machines, and X-energy, is a board member and investor. The funding will accelerate chip performance optimization, targeting commercial availability of the first-generation MicroSparc by 2028. The company has credentialed backers, a peer-reviewed theoretical paper, and claimed experimental measurements. What it doesn't yet have is independent replication or the kind of transparent experimental disclosure that would allow the physics community to evaluate whether the claims hold up. Until that happens, MicroSparc remains an extraordinary claim awaiting extraordinary evidence. --- **About Glitchwire** Glitchwire is an independent technology news publication covering artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, science, security, policy, finance, and the broader technology industry. 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