The Commerce Department has approved a non-binding letter of intent to provide the funding through its Office of Chip Research and Development (part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology), part of the Department of Commerce, as stated in a statement Monday. This move is part of the Trump administration's efforts to bring more chip manufacturing capabilities back to the United States.
xLight, where Gelsinger serves as executive chairman, is developing a technology that will compete with a component of an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system supplied by the Dutch company ASML, which currently sources many of its lasers from the German company Trumpf. This deal expands the U.S. government's influence in the chip industry.