The U.S. Commerce Department announced plans to award a total of $389 million in research and development funding to four companies working on power semiconductors and critical materials, with the stated aim of strengthening technologies such as commercial fusion and advanced power electronics. The department said the awards will be made with the condition that the U.S. government receives minority, non-controlling and non-voting equity stakes in the recipients.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement the awards will "accelerate American semiconductor innovation to enhance our domestic energy and power resources." The department also noted it has already granted 19 R&D awards to semiconductor firms under a $10 billion fund that Congress approved in 2022.
Awards and intended uses
- Helion (Washington) - up to $175 million: Funds will be used to develop high-voltage power semiconductors and advanced energy power modules intended for fusion power generation. The semiconductors are described as powering and using energy from the magnets that drive Helion fusion generators. The company said the award will be paired with $50 million in new private investment funds. "Building fusion power plants at scale requires us to accelerate the development of technologies like semiconductors that are critical to making fusion possible," said Helion CEO David Kirtley.
- Commonwealth Fusion Systems (Massachusetts) - up to $85 million: The grant will back semiconductor development for radio-frequency plasma heating, power electronics, fusion diagnostics, radiation-hardened electronics and technologies for robotic maintenance systems. Commonwealth said the funding will support semiconductor technologies that are part of its push toward commercial fusion. "These innovations will be a vital part of our global effort to deploy commercial fusion," Commonwealth CEO Bob Mumgaard said.
- Vertical Semiconductor - up to $73 million: The startup, spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will use the funds to advance vertical gallium nitride power semiconductors intended for AI data center racks. The company said the award will accelerate research and development of next-generation power transistors and hasten domestic production to improve efficiency and power density for AI data centers and critical energy infrastructure.
- Sibelco North America - up to $56 million: The award will support next-generation purification techniques for ultra-high-purity quartz used in the semiconductor supply chain. Sibelco North America, part of the Belgium-based Sibelco group, said the funds will be applied to next-generation leaching technologies and a demonstration facility to test new products in North Carolina. Sibelco CEO Hilmar Rode said the announcement "represents a significant step for Sibelco and reflects the importance of high purity quartz within the semiconductor manufacturing supply chain."
Context and funding structure
The awards come from a federal R&D program that has already dispersed 19 grants to semiconductor firms from a $10 billion fund enacted by Congress in 2022. As a condition of receiving these new awards, each company will issue minority, non-controlling and non-voting equity stakes to the U.S. government, according to the Commerce Department.
The department did not quantify the percentage of equity to be taken, saying only that stakes will be minority in nature and will not carry control or voting rights. The companies named will receive awards up to the amounts listed, with some recipients indicating accompanying private investment commitments in addition to the federal support.
Implications highlighted by recipients
Company statements emphasized the role of targeted semiconductor and materials development in enabling broader objectives such as scaling fusion power, improving AI data center power efficiency, and ensuring reliable domestic sources of ultra-high-purity quartz for semiconductor manufacturing. One recipient noted a linked private investment commitment alongside the federal award, illustrating a blended public-private funding mix for at least one project.
Limitations and open questions
The Commerce Department described the awards as intended to accelerate innovation in American semiconductor technologies and domestic energy and power resources, but the announcement left certain details unspecified, including the precise equity percentages the government will hold and the timeline for achieving the stated technology outcomes. The grants are conditional on the government receiving minority, non-controlling and non-voting equity stakes, but the practical effects of those stakes on company valuations and governance were not outlined in the announcement.
These awards target a range of applications - from fusion and power generation to AI infrastructure and upstream materials processing - reflecting a cross-section of the semiconductor and critical materials ecosystem the federal program aims to support.