Shortly after founding SRL, Dr. Howe won an international competition to join Florida Power & Light’s 35Mules Innovation Hub—the clean-energy incubator backed by the world’s largest renewable energy producer, Next-Era Energy. This success further validated the technology’s market while providing the non-dilutive capital to acquire equipment necessary for scaling up initial production.   

In 2021, Dr. Howe established SRL as the most promising startup in gallium oxide electronics and took ownership of a commercially scalable production system for oxide electronic materials from government surplus through strategic agreements. This $10M in state-of-the-art equipment became the foundation of what is now SRL’s Pilot Production Line. 

Around the same time, SRL entered a Facilities Use Agreement with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Materials Research Laboratory, gaining access to state-of-the-art scientific capabilities necessary for the development of electronic materials, along with a steady stream of top-tier talent from the university. This agreement included over 2,000 square feet of leased lab space for SRL’s principal place of business. 

By March 2024, Dr. Howe and a small team of ambitious students brought their $10M production system to life on a shoestring budget and successfully grew their first gallium oxide epiWafers. Today, SRL is the first – and only – company in the world capable of producing gallium oxide at industry-standard 4-inch-and-larger formats and is now scaling to become the global leader in gallium oxide materials.