The U.S. Department of Commerce announced letters of intent to provide $874 million in federal incentives to seven companies developing semiconductor technologies for AI and advanced computing, part of the CHIPS and Science Act's research and development program.
The biggest awards target the race to build faster, more energy-efficient AI hardware: GlobalFoundries will receive up to $300 million to accelerate co-packaged optics — integrating photonics directly alongside AI processors — by two to three years; Kepler up to $245 million for a new class of high-performance AI memory based on 3D and ferroelectric technologies; and Multibeam Corporation up to $140 million for advanced packaging that stacks chips and connects them with thousands of wires.
Smaller awards fund more exotic bets: Extropic gets up to $75 million for 'thermodynamic sampling units' that use natural thermal fluctuations to solve optimization and AI problems at a fraction of the energy; Thintronics up to $50 million for ultra-low-loss dielectrics; OBSIDIA Semiconductors up to $34 million for counterfeit-chip detection; and Aeluma up to $30 million for indium-phosphide-free substrates for AI photonic interconnects.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the investments are 'accelerating America's innovation engine' and would keep the U.S. 'at the forefront of the semiconductor industry.' The department will take a minority, non-controlling equity stake in each company as a condition of the funding, and final awards still require further diligence and approval.
