The Trump administration just took a serious swing at the chip supply chain. On Monday, the U.S. Commerce Department confirmed it plans to invest $150 million in xLight Inc., a semiconductor startup chaired by former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger.
This was revealed through a letter of intent signed by the agency’s Chips Research and Development Office, which operates under the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
According to Bloomberg, the move is part of Trump’s ongoing push to rebuild domestic chipmaking muscle and reduce the country’s reliance on foreign technology.
xLight’s mission is simple: compete with ASML, the Dutch firm that dominates extreme ultraviolet lithography, or EUV. Right now, ASML sources a lot of its laser tech from Trumpf, a German supplier.
Trump’s bet is that xLight can build an alternative laser system that puts that supply chain right back inside American borders.
Federal money targets EUV laser alternative through xLight
The plan is to help xLight design and build a laser prototype powerful enough to replace what ASML gets from Germany. If it works, it becomes a U.S.-made alternative for the same job.
That could give U.S. fabs a new option, while putting pressure on the existing EUV monopoly. The company says the prototype is also a chance to jumpstart progress on Moore’s Law, the idea that the number of transistors on a chip doubles roughly every two years.
“Reviving Moore’s Law and restoring American leadership in light is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and with the support of the federal government, xLight will turn opportunity into reality,” Pat said in xLight’s official press release.
That same Pat was removed from Intel last year after the board grew frustrated with the pace of his turnaround strategy. Things reached a boiling point when he met with the board last December to explain how Intel was trying to close the gap with Nvidia.
After the meeting, Pat was told he could either step down or be fired, and he chose to walk. Bloomberg reported this, citing people familiar with the discussion who weren’t authorized to talk.
Since Pat’s departure, Intel’s CFO David Zinsner and executive vice president Michelle Johnston Holthaus have taken over as co-CEOs, while Frank Yeary, who chairs the board, is now acting as interim executive chair. The board is still searching for a permanent CEO.
Before leaving, Pat tried pushing Intel into chip manufacturing services, which meant going up against TSMC and Samsung for the first time. That was a big shift from Intel’s past, where it mostly built its own CPUs.
Pat’s strategy included expanding Intel’s fabs across the U.S., including a new mega-site in Ohio that got a chunk of federal money through the Chips and Science Act.
The expansion didn’t come cheap. Intel’s balance sheet now carries over $50 billion in debt, and the company is relying on outside investors to keep its plans alive. That includes the Trump administration’s earlier deal to acquire about 10% of Intel, another federal attempt to keep U.S. chip production from falling even further behind.
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