xLight Signs $150 million Letter of Intent with the U.S. Department of Commerce
First CHIPS Award Under Trump Administration Will Position America To Lead Next Generation Semiconductor Lithography
PALO ALTO, Calif. – December 1, 2025 – xLight, the American company building the world’s most powerful lasers, today announced it has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with the U.S. Department of Commerce for $150 million in proposed federal incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act. This award is the first from the Trump Administration’s CHIPS Research and Development Office (CRDO) – proving next generation lithography is a top priority in the administration’s broader effort to restore American semiconductor manufacturing.
“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.”
“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,” said Pat Gelsinger, Executive Chairman of the Board, xLight and General Partner, Playground Global. “Building an energy-efficient EUV laser with tenfold improvements over today’s technology will drive the next era of Moore’s Law, accelerating fab productivity, while developing a critical domestic capability,”
“For far too long, America ceded the frontier of advanced lithography to others. Under President Trump, those days are over. With this partnership, we are backing a technology that can fundamentally rewrite the limits of chipmaking. Best of all, we’re 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.
“Department of Commerce and other federal partner participation will help to 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.
Next steps include xLight working with both the Department of Commerce and partners across the Albany Nanotech Complex; additional details will be announced in the coming months.
Until then, xLight will continue to work across the Department of Energy national lab system to advance the company’s mission to build the world’s most powerful free-electron lasers (FEL). xLight is proud to work with experts at Argonne, Fermilab, Jefferson Lab, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Old Dominion University and Cornell University.
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About xLight
xLight was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA. The company’s mission is to commercialize free electron lasers (FEL) for critical US economic and national security applications. xLight is led by a group of technologists and semiconductor industry veterans with a long track record of building complex technical systems. Our team has decades of experience designing, building, and deploying FEL across a wide range of applications, from research and development to national security missions. Learn more at www.xlight.com
