Commerce Dept awards $874M CHIPS Act funds to 7 companies for AI semiconductor R&D

The U.S. Commerce Department signed letters of intent to distribute $874 million in CHIPS and Science Act incentives to seven companies advancing semiconductor technologies for AI and high-performance computing. Secretary Howard Lutnick stated the awards aim to boost U.S. domestic manufacturing and supply chains while accelerating AI infrastructure. GlobalFoundries receives up to $300 million for co-packaged optics integrating photonics with AI processors; Kepler gets $245 million for 3D and ferroelectric memory technologies; Multibeam receives $140 million for advanced chip packaging and chiplet interconnect.

Smaller awards of $30M–$75M go to Extropic, Thintronics, OBSIDIA Semiconductors, and Aeluma for low-power computing, advanced materials, counterfeit detection, and related next-gen systems. The government will take minority, non-controlling equity stakes in recipients, allowing taxpayers to participate in potential future gains. This extends a 2026 pattern: the administration awarded nearly $2 billion in CHIPS Act funding to nine companies in May, signaling sustained federal commitment to semiconductor independence.

For architects, this signals continued policy backing for non-GPU accelerator R&D (photonics, memory, packaging, low-power designs) and shifts incentives away from monolithic chips toward chiplet-based, cooler, more energy-efficient AI systems. The equity stakes also indicate government willingness to take long-term bets on infrastructure technologies with extended commercialization timelines, reducing venture-only funding pressures on companies pursuing novel substrates and integration approaches.