Commerce Department Signs $874 Million in Chip R&D Letters With 7 Companies
The Department of Commerce signed letters of intent worth $874 million with seven companies to fund semiconductor R&D for the AI compute supply chain.
What was announced
The U.S. Department of Commerce said it signed seven letters of intent under the CHIPS and Science Act, committing $874 million in federal incentives. The money, administered through the CHIPS Research and Development Office, is meant to support domestic work on integrated photonics, compute architectures, advanced packaging, substrates, materials, and memory for the compute supply chain. Commerce framed the goal as increasing the performance of the world's fastest computers, securing domestic supply chains, and strengthening U.S. leadership in that supply chain. The agency said the resulting infrastructure could eventually help advance work in materials innovation, industrial optimization, robotics, defense systems, drug discovery, and finance.
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick called the round part of "accelerating America's innovation engine," adding that the investments are meant to "enhance our country's domestic capabilities, create high-paying jobs and keep America at the forefront of the semiconductor industry." Bill Frauenhofer, the department's Executive Director for Semiconductor Innovation and Investment, said the incentives are meant to give U.S. industry "the extreme bandwidth and energy efficiency to scale complex AI workloads securely and rapidly."
Who gets what
Seven companies signed letters of intent, each for a distinct piece of the compute supply chain:
- GlobalFoundries: up to $300 million, aimed at pulling forward domestic co-packaged optics work by two to three years, pairing photonics directly with AI processors for faster, more energy-efficient computing.
- Kepler: up to $245 million to develop a new class of high-performance AI memory built on 3D and ferroelectric technologies.
- Multibeam Corporation: up to $140 million for advanced packaging that stacks and wires together multiple chips.
- Extropic: up to $75 million to build thermodynamic sampling units, hardware that uses natural thermal fluctuations to probabilistically tackle simulation, optimization, and AI problems at a fraction of the energy of conventional computing.
- Thintronics: up to $50 million to develop ultra-low-loss dielectric material needed for next-generation chip interconnects and packaging.
- OBSIDIA Semiconductors: up to $34 million for systems that can non-invasively spot counterfeit or malicious components in the supply chain.
- Aeluma: up to $30 million to develop indium-phosphide-free substrate material used to make photodetectors and lasers for AI photonic interconnects.
What happens next
Commerce cautioned that a letter of intent is not a final award: each company still faces further diligence and approval before money moves. As a condition of any final award, the government will take a minority, non-controlling equity stake in each company, which Commerce said is meant to increase the return for U.S. taxpayers. The CHIPS Research and Development Office said it is still accepting proposals from eligible applicants under a separate announcement, 2025-NIST-CHIPS-CRDO-01, posted at grants.gov.
Key facts
- Commerce signed 7 letters of intent worth a combined $874 million in CHIPS and Science Act incentives.
- GlobalFoundries could receive up to $300 million for co-packaged optics; Kepler up to $245 million for 3D and ferroelectric AI memory.
- Multibeam could get up to $140 million for chip packaging; Extropic up to $75 million for thermodynamic sampling hardware.
- Thintronics, OBSIDIA Semiconductors, and Aeluma are in line for up to $50 million, $34 million, and $30 million respectively.
- The government will take a minority, non-controlling equity stake in each company before any final award is made.
Check your understanding
- Which company is in line for the largest amount, and what technology is it developing?
- What does the Department of Commerce receive from each company as a condition of a final award?