What happened

Shares of Nano Dimension (NNDM 3.70%), a computer hardware company, soared on Wednesday. The stock finished the trading day up nearly 22%.

The stock's gain is likely primarily due to a patent grant for the company's printing technology. 

A chart showing a stock price rising sharply

Image source: Getty Images.

So what

Nano Dimension was granted patent number 10,893,612 for "Rigid-flexible printed circuit bord fabrication using inkjet printing," according to the U.S. patent filing.

An excerpt from the filing helps explain some of what the new patent covers:

Flexible-rigid composite electronics represent a new generation of electronics, which can exhibit properties of both stretching as well as bending flexibility. These properties will afford electronic devices with conformity to bending and twisting as well as the capability to stretch and compress over a large strain scale. Because of their soft and conformable nature, stretchable electronics have shown great potential in biomedical engineering, e.g., epidermal electronic devices and implantable devices. As well as in the growing demand for wearable electronics, and other industries such as sensors, antennas with complex geometry or RFIDs to be placed on curved objects.

Now what

Nano Dimension has been trying to build on the momentum of its flagship DragonFly product, a 3D printing system for electronic circuitry. As of the company's third-quarter update, Nano Dimension had sold 60 machines -- primarily to leading blue chip companies. But sales of DragonFly systems have taken a hit recently, with management citing the impact of COVID-19. Management said it believes sales will likely recover as the economy reopens.