U.S. Awards $874 Million to Seven Chip Companies and Takes Equity Stakes

The Commerce Department signed $874 million in preliminary CHIPS Act deals on Tuesday, sending federal incentives to seven semiconductor companies in exchange for minority, non-controlling equity stakes the U.S. government will hold in each recipient.

GlobalFoundries (NASDAQ:GFS) drew the top award: up to $300 million for domestic co-packaged optics, light-based data links placed next to AI processors so they can move information faster and with less energy. Commerce said the work could pull the technology forward by two to three years.

Kepler received up to $245 million for 3D ferroelectric AI memory, a next-generation approach that stacks storage in three dimensions. Multibeam drew up to $140 million for advanced chip packaging, techniques for stacking multiple chips and wiring them so they act as one faster system.

The four smaller recipients each tie to a distinct piece of the AI hardware stack: Extropic (up to $75M, thermodynamic sampling units), Thintronics (up to $50M, ultra-low-loss inter-layer dielectrics), OBSIDIA Semiconductors (up to $34M, counterfeit component detection), and Aeluma (up to $30M, indium-phosphide-free substrate technology).

The awards are preliminary letters of intent, not finalized grants; further diligence and Department approval are required before money moves. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said the slate "will enhance our country's domestic capabilities, create high-paying jobs and keep America at the forefront of the semiconductor industry."

The equity-for-taxpayer mechanism is new at this scale and follows a May deal in which Commerce took stakes in nine quantum computing companies tied to roughly $2 billion in CHIPS incentives. A Cato Institute analysis argues the model is contested on statutory grounds, since the 2022 CHIPS Act did not expressly authorize stock acquisition.