News Summary

Pat Gelsinger, formerly of Intel and now a general partner at venture firm Playground Global, is focusing his attention on xLight, a semiconductor startup. xLight is set to receive up to $150 million from the U.S. Commerce Department, making the government a stakeholder in the company. The startup is developing free electron lasers to advance semiconductor manufacturing, aiming to overcome lithography bottlenecks. This technology could potentially extend Moore’s Law, which predicts the doubling of computing power every two years. xLight plans to produce its first silicon wafers by 2028 and have its first commercial system online by 2029. The deal is part of the Chips and Science Act under the Trump administration, with xLight aiming to build its first machine in New York. The involvement of the U.S. government has raised some industry concerns about free-market principles, but Gelsinger remains focused on national competitiveness and technological advancement. xLight’s approach treats light as a utility, which could be integrated with existing technologies from companies like ASML.