By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (Reuters) – The US Commerce Department said on Thursday it plans to award $389 million in research and development funding to four companies working on power semiconductor devices and critical materials to boost technologies like commercial fusion.
As a condition of funding, the US government will receive minority, non-controlling and non-voting equity stakes, the department said.
In recent months, it has awarded 19 R&D grants to semiconductor firms from a $10 billion fund approved by Congress in 2022. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement the awards will “accelerate American semiconductor innovation to enhance our domestic energy and power resources.”
Reuters first reported the new funding. The department said it had signed letters of intent to provide four new awards:
• Washington-based Helion will receive up to $175 million to develop high-voltage power semiconductors and advanced energy power modules in fusion power generation. The semiconductors will power and use energy from magnets driving Helion fusion generators. Helion said the award will be accompanied by $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.
• Massachusetts-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems will receive up to $85 million to develop semiconductors for radio-frequency plasma heating, power electronics, fusion diagnostics, and radiation-hardened electronics.
• Commonwealth said the funding will help develop semiconductor technologies for robotic maintenance systems. “These innovations will be a vital part of our global effort to deploy commercial fusion,” Commonwealth CEO Bob Mumgaard said.
• Vertical Semiconductor will receive up to $73 million to advance its vertical gallium nitride power semiconductors for use in AI data center racks. The company, a startup spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the funding will help accelerate R&D of next-generation power transistors and speed domestic production of this technology to drastically improve efficiency and power density for AI data centers and critical energy infrastructure.
• Sibelco North America will receive up to $56 million to develop next-generation purification for ultra-high-purity quartz used in the semiconductor supply chain. Sibelco North America, part of Belgium parent Sibelco, said the funding for key quartz components in semiconductor manufacturing will be used for next-generation leaching technologies and a demonstration facility to support testing new products in North Carolina. Sibelco CEO Hilmar Rode said announcement “represents a significant step for Sibelco and reflects the importance of high purity quartz within the semiconductor manufacturing supply chain”
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Philippa Fletcher)
