Trump Administration To Take Equity Stake In Former Intel CEO's Chip Startup (wsj.com)
(Tuesday December 02, 2025 @11:16AM (BeauHD)
from the let's-make-a-deal dept.)
- Reference: 0180256057
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/12/02/0530257/trump-administration-to-take-equity-stake-in-former-intel-ceos-chip-startup
- Source link: https://www.wsj.com/tech/trump-administration-to-take-equity-stake-in-former-intel-ceos-chip-startup-9dcd9367
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Wall Street Journal:
> The Trump administration has [1]agreed to inject up to $150 million into a startup (source paywalled; [2]alternative source ) trying to develop more advanced semiconductor manufacturing techniques in the U.S., its latest bid to support strategically important domestic industries with government incentives. Under the arrangement, the Commerce Department would give the incentives to xLight, a startup trying to improve the critical chip-making process known as extreme ultraviolet lithography, the agency said in a Monday release. In return, the government would get an equity stake that would likely make it xLight's largest shareholder.
>
> The Dutch firm ASML is currently the only global producer of EUV machines, which can cost hundreds of millions of dollars each. XLight is seeking to improve on just one component of the EUV process: the crucially important lasers that etch complex microscopic patterns onto chemical-treated silicon wafers. The startup is hoping to integrate its light sources into ASML's machines. XLight represents a second act for Pat Gelsinger, the former chief executive of Intel who was fired by the board late last year after the chip maker suffered from weak financial performance and a stalled manufacturing expansion. Gelsinger serves as executive chairman of xLight's board.
>
> [...] The xLight deal uses funding from the 2022 Chips and Science Act allocated for earlier stage companies with promising technologies. It is the first Chips Act award in President Trump's second term and is a preliminary agreement, meaning it isn't finalized and could change. "This partnership would back a technology that can fundamentally rewrite the limits of chipmaking," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in the release.
[1] https://www.wsj.com/tech/trump-administration-to-take-equity-stake-in-former-intel-ceos-chip-startup-9dcd9367
[2] https://archive.ph/20251202025501/https://www.wsj.com/tech/trump-administration-to-take-equity-stake-in-former-intel-ceos-chip-startup-9dcd9367
> The Trump administration has [1]agreed to inject up to $150 million into a startup (source paywalled; [2]alternative source ) trying to develop more advanced semiconductor manufacturing techniques in the U.S., its latest bid to support strategically important domestic industries with government incentives. Under the arrangement, the Commerce Department would give the incentives to xLight, a startup trying to improve the critical chip-making process known as extreme ultraviolet lithography, the agency said in a Monday release. In return, the government would get an equity stake that would likely make it xLight's largest shareholder.
>
> The Dutch firm ASML is currently the only global producer of EUV machines, which can cost hundreds of millions of dollars each. XLight is seeking to improve on just one component of the EUV process: the crucially important lasers that etch complex microscopic patterns onto chemical-treated silicon wafers. The startup is hoping to integrate its light sources into ASML's machines. XLight represents a second act for Pat Gelsinger, the former chief executive of Intel who was fired by the board late last year after the chip maker suffered from weak financial performance and a stalled manufacturing expansion. Gelsinger serves as executive chairman of xLight's board.
>
> [...] The xLight deal uses funding from the 2022 Chips and Science Act allocated for earlier stage companies with promising technologies. It is the first Chips Act award in President Trump's second term and is a preliminary agreement, meaning it isn't finalized and could change. "This partnership would back a technology that can fundamentally rewrite the limits of chipmaking," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in the release.
[1] https://www.wsj.com/tech/trump-administration-to-take-equity-stake-in-former-intel-ceos-chip-startup-9dcd9367
[2] https://archive.ph/20251202025501/https://www.wsj.com/tech/trump-administration-to-take-equity-stake-in-former-intel-ceos-chip-startup-9dcd9367
Shakedown (Score:2)
by Voice of satan ( 1553177 )
That's a shakedown; The USA is a dictatorship ruled by a predatory mafia.
Good that i had no intention to buy anything intel anyway.
How is this different than 2008 (Score:2)
by spacepimp ( 664856 )
This has been done before for AIG and General motors. The US Gov't had 60% in GM after 2008 and it then divested those shares at a giant loss. In the great depression the US took stake in banks to prevent collapse. With intel the chips they provide are critical for many government functions. Being reliant on a foreign country to manufacture them cant be counted on or considered safe if used in military functions. If intel was healthy would the government force this on them? That is a very different scenari
They warn about the dangers of Socialism (Score:3)
...while demanding the public ownership of the means of production. Can't write parody any more.
Re: (Score:2)
you missunderstand he is going to take it with him when he leaves like that jet.
Re:They warn about the dangers of Socialism (Score:5, Insightful)
This is not socialism but fascism. Look it up. And what happens when one of these companies that idiot put U.S. taxpayer money into? The taxpayers will bail it out. And if anyone of these companies cannot compete, it won't matter because the U.S. Government won't let it fail.
Re: (Score:2)
And worse, the government will screw any competitors to its *favored* companies. Just watch el Bunko, he has no morals or ethics, so naturally the Christian Right feels he is one of them.
Re: (Score:2)
Hopefully we get a sell off when the next administration comes into power as this is not something government should be doing.
Re: (Score:2)
> This is not socialism but fascism. Look it up. And what happens when one of these companies that idiot put U.S. taxpayer money into? The taxpayers will bail it out. And if anyone of these companies cannot compete, it won't matter because the U.S. Government won't let it fail.
That pretty much happens anyway. I'll give this admin this one little caveat: They're at least open and blatant with their corruption. It's not hiding and pretending to be something else before the bullshit moment. It's bullshit right up front and center.
Re: (Score:2)
> This is not socialism but fascism. Look it up. And what happens when one of these companies that idiot put U.S. taxpayer money into? The taxpayers will bail it out. And if anyone of these companies cannot compete, it won't matter because the U.S. Government won't let it fail.
Let's be honest, it's been happening for "ages" for any strategic industry, like food production, oil, steel, shipyards, banking and the list can go on - now with the worries about Taiwan, high end chip manufacturing is a reasonable thing to protect - let's not get paranoid.
Re: They warn about the dangers of Socialism (Score:1)
"The taxpayers will bail it out."
What if the Fed can do it without needing tax money, and if you're worried about inflation (which never showed up, contrary to mainstream economic model predictions by the Fed itself, after 2008 Fed money-printing), why can't the Fed index everything to inflation?
Re: (Score:2)
> ...while demanding the public ownership of the means of production. Can't write parody any more.
There's a narrative on the right that fascism was a left wing form of government.,
But the reality is that both fascism and communism were extreme right wing forms of government.
Fascism openly so, but also communism. Remember what fascism actually cares about, maintaining order, obedience to authority, sacrificing for the glory of the state.
Communism was supposed to be about equality and the people controlling everything in a bottom up manner. But the moment you implement it on a national scale you end up w