A US company has unveiled “Superwood,” a revolutionary type of engineered wood that boasts up to 10 times the strength-to-weight ratio of steel while being up to six times lighter. InventWood, co-founded by material scientist Liangbing Hu, is now producing the material commercially.
Hu, now a professor at Yale, spent over a decade reimagining wood as a high-performance building material. His goal was simple but ambitious: take one of the world’s oldest construction materials and make it stronger, using cellulose—the planet’s most abundant biopolymer. Early experiments even produced transparent wood by removing lignin, the natural component that gives wood its color and partial strength.
The breakthrough came in 2017, when Hu chemically treated regular wood to enhance its natural cellulose. After boiling the wood in water and chemicals and then hot-pressing it to collapse its cellular structure, the resulting material had a strength-to-weight ratio surpassing that of most metals and alloys. Today, after over 140 patents and years of refinement, Superwood is ready for commercial use.
“From a chemical and practical standpoint, it’s still wood,” said InventWood CEO Alex Lau. “But it’s far stronger and more durable, while remaining lightweight. This could allow buildings that are up to four times lighter, safer in earthquakes, and easier on foundations.”
Initially, InventWood plans to focus on external applications like decking and cladding, before moving to interior uses such as flooring, wall panels, and furniture. Lau emphasized that Superwood could replace many metal components in furniture, making items more durable while reducing reliance on screws, nails, and other fasteners.
Superwood is produced by chemically treating real wood and compressing it tightly. Tests show it is up to 20 times stronger than regular wood, 10 times more resistant to dents, impervious to fungi and insects, and it achieves top fire resistance ratings. While its production currently has a larger carbon footprint than conventional wood, it is still 90% less carbon-intensive than steel manufacturing.
Unlike traditional engineered wood products that rely on adhesives to hold pieces together, Superwood is altered at the molecular level. InventWood has successfully tested 19 different wood species and bamboo, demonstrating its versatility.
Timber is seeing a resurgence in construction, including skyscrapers like Milwaukee’s 284-foot Ascent MKE, with plans underway for a 600-foot timber tower. Concrete remains the most-used material globally, generating roughly 7% of worldwide carbon emissions. Experts say timber products, including Superwood, offer environmental benefits by storing CO2 in their biomass and reducing reliance on steel and concrete.
Stronger materials like Superwood could enable architects to design larger, more durable structures with wood, potentially accelerating the adoption of sustainable timber in cities worldwide.
