Segmented semiconductor nanowires are manufactured by removal of material from a layered structure of two or more semiconductor materials in the absence of a template. The removal takes place at some locations on the surface of the layered structure and continues preferentially along the direction of a crystallographic axis, such that nanowires with a segmented structure remain at locations where little or no removal occurs. The interface between different segments can be perpendicular to or at angle with the longitudinal direction of the nanowire.