The US Department of Commerce announced on 29 July 2026 that it has signed letters of intent with seven companies for federal awards of up to US$874 million under the CHIPS and Science Act, aimed at accelerating research and development for next-generation computing and artificial-intelligence semiconductors.
The funding, still subject to due diligence and final agreements, targets bottlenecks in the AI compute stack. Three programmes — GlobalFoundries, Kepler Computing and Multibeam Corporation — would receive a combined roughly US$685 million, about 78.4% of the total, focusing on data movement (integrated photonics), memory access (AI memory) and chip integration (advanced packaging).
Other areas covered by the seven projects include novel computing architectures, dielectric materials, supply-chain validation and optical-interconnect components. As with recent CHIPS awards, the Commerce Department will take a minority, non-controlling equity stake — distinguishing the programme from traditional one-way grants.
Officials said the policy reflects a shift from subsidising domestic wafer fabrication toward investing in the critical technologies — photonics, memory and advanced packaging — that determine how efficiently AI compute can actually be used.
Source: US Department of Commerce, 29 July 2026.
