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Blackrock Neurotech

Utah array, research brain implants

USprivateest. 2008blackrockneurotech.com (opens blackrockneurotech.com)Checked 25 Sep

The brief

Analyst view

Utah arrays have been implanted in dozens of people, more than any other in-brain implant.
University teams using its arrays turned imagined handwriting into 90 characters/min (2021) and speech into 62 words/min (2023).

Programs

Blackrock Neurotech, one program

Updated 12 Jun 2025

Utah array / NeuroPortA 4 x 4 mm grid of 100 tiny silicon needles (96 recording) up to 1.5 mm long, wired to a connector that pokes through the scalp.PilotNextCommercial fully implanted systemUpdated 12 Jun 2025View program →

Research · Proto · Pilot · Deploy · Scaling

Research & demos

2 items

Aug 2023
paperA high-performance speech neuroprosthesis (Nature) (opens nature.com)
Turned attempted speech into text at 62 words per minute with Utah arrays.
May 2021
paperHigh-performance brain-to-text communication via handwriting (Nature) (opens nature.com)
Stanford study using Utah arrays to turn imagined handwriting into text.

Peers

Brain implants · 2

Company & funding

HQ: US
Founded: 2008
Website: blackrockneurotech.com (opens blackrockneurotech.com)

Partners & customers

1 investor · 1 customer

Investor
Tether (opens tether.io)
Acquired a majority stake for $200M in Apr 2024.
Customer
BrainGate consortium (opens braingate.org)
Academic clinical trials using Utah arrays.

People

Key people

Marcus GerhardtCo-founder and CEO