"The Trump administration has agreed to inject up to $150 million into xLight, a semiconductor startup developing advanced chip-making technology, marking the second time the U.S. government has taken an equity position in a private startup and further expanding a controversial strategy that has put Washington on the cap tables of American companies. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the Commerce Department will provide the funding to xLight"
"You can imagine how this is all going over in Silicon Valley, where the libertarian ethos runs deep. At TechCrunch's signature Disrupt event back in October, Sequoia Capital's Roelof Botha jokingly offered what might be the understatement of the year when asked about the trend: "[Some] of the most dangerous words in the world are: 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'""
The U.S. Commerce Department has agreed to provide up to $150 million to xLight in exchange for an equity stake, likely making the government the startup's largest shareholder. The funding comes from the 2022 Chips and Science Act and represents the first Chips Act award in President Trump's second term; the deal remains preliminary and subject to change. The move follows prior government equity investments including Intel, MP Materials, Lithium Americas, and Trilogy Metals, and two recent rare-earths startups. xLight, a four-year-old Palo Alto company, aims to build particle accelerator-powered lasers the size of a football field for semiconductor manufacturing.
#government-equity-investment #chips-and-science-act #semiconductor-manufacturing #xlight #venture-capital-concerns
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