Mojo Vision’s smart contact lens was pronounced dead in 2023. The patents never stopped: 125 grants, an implant for the blind, Air Force trials, and a $1.35B Dubai startup. The tech was fine. The customer was wrong.
Apple killed its decade-long microLED display project in 2024. The same year, a Sunnyvale startup hit 200 femtojoules per bit shooting data between AI chips with the same physics — and now holds 84% of US patents in the niche.