Pat Gelsinger wants to save Moore's Law, with a little help from the Feds | TechCrunch

"A year after being pushed out of Intel, Pat Gelsinger is still waking up at 4 a.m., still in the thick of the semiconductor wars - just on a different battlefield. Now a general partner at venture firm Playground Global, the 63-year-old is working with 10 startups. But one portfolio company has captured an outsized share of his attention: xLight, a semiconductor startup that last Monday announced it has struck a preliminary deal for up to $150 million from the U.S. Commerce Department, with the government set to become its largest shareholder."

"It's a nice feather in the cap of Gelsinger, who spent 35 years across two stints at Intel before the board showed him the door late last year owing to a lack of confidence in his turnaround plans. But the xLight deal is also shining a spotlight on a trend that's making people in Silicon Valley quietly uncomfortable: the Trump administration taking equity stakes in strategically important companies."

"Speaking at one of TechCrunch's StrictlyVC events at Playground Global, Gelsinger - who is xLight's executive chairman - seemed unbothered by the philosophical debate. He's more focused on his bet that xLight can solve what he sees as the semiconductor industry's biggest bottleneck: lithography, the process of etching microscopic patterns onto silicon wafers. The startup is developing massive "free electron lasers" powered by particle accelerators that could revolutionize chip manufacturing. If the technology works, that is."

Pat Gelsinger left Intel and joined Playground Global as a general partner while continuing to rise early and work with multiple startups. One portfolio company, xLight, secured a preliminary deal for up to $150 million from the U.S. Commerce Department, which would become the firm's largest shareholder. The deal has sparked concern in Silicon Valley about government equity stakes in strategic firms. Gelsinger is focused on xLight's effort to address lithography limitations by developing large "free electron lasers" powered by particle accelerators. The technology aims to advance chip patterning and sustain Moore's Law, but its success remains uncertain.

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