The Trump administration has agreed to make a stake in xLight – a startup that aims to come up with free-electron lasers that are considered the key to creating faster computing chips.
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that the government will inject up to $150 million into the company, but did not specify the size of the stake.
The CHIPS Research and Development Office of the department reported that it has signed a non-binding preliminary letter of intent to offer incentives to the U.S. government.
This marks the office’s first investment after the Trump administration seized $7.4 billion Biden-era semiconductor research institute.
The most important device in the world of chip manufacturing at a high level is an extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, which is used to print the pattern of the chips on the silicon wafers.
ASML in the Netherlands is the only company in the world that is currently producing such a machine, but there are startup companies like Substrate that are attempting to create competitors. Therefore, in the lithography machine, the laser is the most challenging component to manufacture.
XLight has suggested the technology based on particle accelerators to make one that would consume much less electricity than the existing lasers, and is collaborating with U.S. national laboratories to create a prototype that can be attached to machines produced by ASML or other manufacturers.
In a statement, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said that “For far too long, America ceded the frontier of advanced lithography to others. Under President Trump, those days are over.”
XLight also now counts former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger among senior management. He was appointed as the executive chairman in March.
