US investment in ASML will change the semiconductor industry
According to a press release released by the US Department of Commerce on December 1st, the "Chip Development Office" under the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has signed a non binding letter of intent to provide up to $150 million in funding to xLight, but has not disclosed the specific shareholding percentage.
The funding allocated to xLight by the Trump administration this time comes from former US President Biden's Chips and Science Act, which aims to support startups with broad technological prospects. This is also the first Chip Act reward since the beginning of Trump's second term. But this incentive is currently in its preliminary stage and has not yet been finalized.
In response to this investment, US Secretary of Commerce Lutnik stated in a statement, "For a long time, the United States has been at the forefront of advanced lithography technology. Under President Trump's leadership, these days are over... This collaboration will support a technology that can fundamentally rewrite the limits of chip manufacturing
According to The Wall Street Journal, xLight is a semiconductor technology startup dedicated to overcoming the most critical bottleneck in chip manufacturing - lithography machine light source technology, attempting to improve extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography processes.
