A transformative leap in semiconductor technology is underway. xLight, a cutting-edge American startup, has just closed an oversubscribed $40 million Series B equity round, signaling a bold acceleration of its mission to develop the world’s most powerful extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) free electron lasers (FEL). The financing was led by Playground Global, with strong participation from Boardman Bay Capital Management, Morpheus Ventures, and other investors. These partners are betting on a future where xLight’s advanced light source technology not only reinvigorates American leadership in semiconductor manufacturing but redefines what’s possible in chip design, photonics, and national defense.
xLight’s ambition isn’t incremental—it is fundamental. At a time when the global semiconductor industry faces serious capacity bottlenecks, soaring costs, and the limitations of current lithography technologies, xLight aims to deliver a generational leap forward. Their EUV FEL system promises an energy-efficient alternative to conventional laser sources, offering a tenfold improvement in performance. This could dramatically increase fab productivity, enable the continuation of Moore’s Law, and reduce dependency on foreign supply chains. For a country determined to reclaim its technological sovereignty in chip manufacturing, such innovation carries not only economic but also geopolitical significance.
Pat Gelsinger, Executive Chairman of the Board at xLight and General Partner at Playground Global, describes the company as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity,” emphasizing the strategic importance of developing a domestic, high-powered EUV solution. His perspective is grounded in the belief that laser light—an often overlooked pillar of the chip manufacturing process—could be the key to unlocking entirely new device architectures and fabrication models. Echoing this sentiment, xLight CEO and CTO Nicholas Kelez highlighted that the Series B funding will directly support the final design and initial build of a full-scale prototype. The capital will help bridge the transition from experimental phase to deployment-ready system, working in concert with the broader semiconductor ecosystem and national laboratories.
xLight is no longer a theoretical play—it is executing in partnership with some of the country’s most prestigious research institutions. Collaborations with the Cornell Laboratory for Accelerator-based Sciences and Education (CLASSE), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and Fermilab place xLight within a constellation of scientific excellence. Together, they are advancing everything from superconducting RF cavity technologies to cryomodule testing, and from automated accelerator control via machine learning to subsystems inspired by Cornell’s BNL ERL Test Accelerator. These are not merely academic partnerships, but coordinated efforts to convert decades of national lab expertise into commercial hardware with world-changing implications.
From the investor side, the optimism is not just about speed or efficiency—it’s about the potential to reframe the industry. Peter Barrett of Playground Global hailed xLight’s use of proven accelerator physics in an entirely new form, calling it a “bold leap forward.” Will Graves of Boardman Bay emphasized the company’s readiness to meet a “major dislocation” in the manufacturing space, while Howard Ko of Morpheus Ventures celebrated xLight’s ability to redefine limits rather than just push against them.
As the world increasingly hinges on chips to power everything from artificial intelligence to defense systems, the pressure to innovate at the photon level is intensifying. xLight’s technology—and its approach to integrating frontier physics with advanced manufacturing—places it at the forefront of a revolution in light-based processing. What it builds over the next 12 to 24 months could become foundational for an entire generation of semiconductors and possibly set a new gold standard in laser science. The road ahead is both long and complex, but with capital, vision, and high-powered allies in its corner, xLight may very well become the bright beam that lights the next era of technological progress.
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