Department of Commerce and NIST Announce CHIPS Research and Development Letter of Intent with xLight, Inc. for Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography 

WASHINGTON – The Department of Commerce’s CHIPS Research and Development Office, part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), announced today the signing of a non-binding preliminary letter of intent (LOI) to provide up to $150 million in proposed federal incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act to xLight, Inc. This would be the first award NIST will make after assuming leadership of the National Semiconductor Technology Center in the Trump administration. This LOI demonstrates the Trump administration's commitment to American leadership in leading edge semiconductor manufacturing by seeking to invest in breakthrough technology that will enable the next generation of lithography. 

The potential incentives would be for the construction, build out, and demonstration of a free-electron laser (FEL) prototype as an alternative light source for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. The Department of Commerce would receive $150 million of equity in xLight.

As the semiconductor industry pushes the limits of Moore’s Law, EUV lithography has emerged as a critical technology to enable the high-volume manufacturing of microchip transistors beyond the 7nm node. However, the demand for more powerful and cost-effective means to manufacture leading edge semiconductors remains and FEL sources have the potential to enable significant advances in capabilities, productivity, and costs of lithography at commercial fabs. 

“For far too long, America ceded the frontier of advanced lithography to others. Under President Trump, those days are over. This partnership would back a technology that can fundamentally rewrite the limits of chipmaking. Best of all, we would be doing it here at home. xLight’s FEL platform represents the kind of breakthrough innovation that restores American leadership, secures our supply chains, and guarantees that the next generation of semiconductors is born in the United States. This is the CHIPS program at its best,” said Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. 

From cyclotrons to synchrotrons, and now FELs, the past century has seen the U.S. national laboratories driving innovations in scientific research that foster technological breakthroughs that translate into U.S. national security. Decades of these sustained strategic investments have enabled the maturation of the specialized infrastructure and workforce needed to design, build, and continuously operate these complex systems. This initiative would represent a commercialization of these investments into the semiconductor industry, demonstrating the power of efficient collaboration across federal agencies in promoting U.S. interests in a critical technology area.

“Department of Commerce and other federal partner participation are committed to helping validate and rapidly accelerate the commercialization of this novel domestic light source for current and future state-of-the-art semiconductor lithography,” said Deputy Secretary Paul Dabbar. 

“The future of semiconductor manufacturing hinges on lithography, and we are grateful for the support of the Trump Administration, Secretary Lutnick, and Deputy Secretary Dabbar, and their vision to drive innovation and restore American leadership in advanced semiconductor manufacturing,” said Nicholas Kelez, CEO and CTO of xLight. “With the support from Commerce,  our investors, and development partners, xLight is building its first free-electron laser system at the Albany Nanotech Complex, where the world's best lithography capabilities will enable the research and development that will define the future of chip manufacturing.”

xLight plans to use the prototype at the Albany Nanotech Complex, in partnership with non-profit NYCreates, beginning in 2028. It will demonstrate the technology on current generation EUV lithography machines and leverage the existing robust ecosystem at the facility to pioneer lithography research at sub-EUV wavelengths that could prove essential for manufacturing next-generation high-performance semiconductor devices.