The U.S. Department of Commerce committed to further support domestic chip manufacturing and has given preliminary approval under the CHIPS and Science Act to incentives for xLight, a venture-backed startup that develops EUV Free Electron Lasers (FELs). A non-binding tentative letter of intent was signed, paving the way for (up to) $150 million of government funding, although the Department of Commerce did not declare the size of its stake in xLight. Pat Gelsinger joined the company earlier this year as executive chairman, and Nicholas Kelez, xLight’s CEO/CTO, said the company is building its first free-electron laser system at the Albany Nanotech Complex with support from the DOC, investors, and development partners.
xLight is positioning itself as an alternative player in the lithography market where ASML is currently dominant. The company outlines two critical means of improving patterning performance, productivity, and overall chip yield: power and polarization. In its materials xLight states that its EUV Free Electron Lasers directly address both areas and that its EUV FEL light source produces 4X more power than LPP. The company claims that delivering up to 4X higher EUV power will allow fabs to optimize patterning improvements, productivity, and yield, unlocking billions in additional annual revenue per scanner and ~50% per wafer cost reduction.
xLight also claims a single system can support up to 20 ASML systems with a 30-year operating lifetime, and that this could reduce capital and operating expenditures by more than 3X. The announced DOC support remains tentative and non-binding at this stage, and the article notes the government has not specified the precise size of any equity stake or final funding commitment as discussions proceed under the CHIPS and Science Act framework.
