Before the U.S. government took a stake, Intel's CEO led the chip manufacturing startup xLight, planning to raise $350 million.

According to Beating Monitoring, a U.S. government-backed chip manufacturing startup, xLight, is in talks to raise $350 million. The investment firms Boardman Bay Capital Management and Bain Capital are expected to lead this round of financing. The U.S. government has invested $150 million in xLight through the Chips and Science Act, which may have made it one of the company’s major shareholders. xLight’s cumulative fundraising has reached approximately $200 million.

Pat Gelsinger, former CEO of Intel, serves as the executive chairman of xLight. In 2025, Playground Global, the venture capital firm led by Gelsinger, invested in xLight. xLight plans to lobby ASML, TSMC, Intel, and Micron Technology to participate in this financing round.

xLight is committed to developing alternative light sources for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology to reduce the manufacturing time and costs of advanced server chips. Christophe Fouquet, CEO of ASML, revealed that ASML is working with xLight on technology demonstrations, but said that this is still a long road. xLight plans to build its first prototype site in Albany, New York, with the goal of completing the first usable light source by 2028.

The company has signed a non-binding project financing agreement worth $4.2 billion with lenders, which will be used to build the first batch of 7 facilities. Another startup, Substrate, is also developing X-ray-based lithography technology and directly competing with ASML.

Since the beginning of 2025, the U.S. government has made at least 12 equity investments in private companies, focusing on shifting key supply-chain segments for AI server chips to the United States. This includes two semiconductor investments in xLight by Intel.