# CHIPS Act Chipmaker Equity Round 2026 On **2026-07-29**, the [[Department of Commerce]] announced up to **$874 million** in [[CHIPS and Science Act]] funding to a batch of small semiconductor companies **in exchange for "minority, non-controlling equity stakes."** It is the first time equity-for-grants was applied as a *routine program mechanic* rather than a bespoke rescue — which is what makes a relatively small round significant. ## Named recipients Seven companies, per the Commerce Department's own announcement: | Company | Up to | For | |---------|-------|-----| | [[GlobalFoundries]] | $300M | Co-packaged optics — photonics integrated alongside AI processors | | Kepler | $245M | 3D and ferroelectric high-performance AI memory | | Multibeam Corporation | $140M | Advanced packaging — stacking and interconnecting multiple chips | | Extropic | $75M | Thermodynamic sampling units (TSUs) | | Thintronics | $50M | Ultra-low-loss inter-layer dielectrics | | OBSIDIA Semiconductors | $34M | Counterfeit and malicious component identification | | Aeluma | $30M | Indium-phosphide-free large-diameter substrates | The money is for R&D on advanced integrated photonics (chips that move and process data with light rather than electricity) and adjacent gaps in the AI hardware stack — memory, novel compute architectures, and thermodynamic computing. > [!note] The six-or-seven count is resolved: it is seven, and the seventh is GlobalFoundries > Earlier reporting split. Yahoo Finance and IBTimes said **six** companies; The Hill and Epoch Times said **seven**. The Commerce/NIST press release of 2026-07-29 is titled "Letters of Intent With **7** Companies" and names all seven. > > **The arithmetic settles it independently.** The six companies named consistently across outlets sum to **$574M** (245 + 140 + 75 + 50 + 34 + 30) against an announced total of **$874M**. The $300M gap is exactly GlobalFoundries' award. Any tally that reports six companies and $874M is internally inconsistent. > > The likely reason for the undercount: GlobalFoundries is a large, established public chipmaker already deep in the CHIPS program, so outlets framing the story as "new companies *added to the government's stock portfolio*" appear to have dropped it from the list. That framing is defensible for a portfolio count and wrong for a deal count. > [!caution] The status is still unsettled > These are **letters of intent**, not closed transactions. The dollar figures are **maximums**, and Commerce states plainly that "there will be further diligence and approval by the Department before final awards are made." As of the last check (2026-08-26) no closings have been announced. Frontmatter status remains `draft` for this reason. ## Why a small round matters The [[Intel Government Equity Stake]] could be defended as a one-off: a troubled national champion, a specific set of unmet grant milestones, an unusual set of facts. This round cannot. These are **early-stage companies receiving ordinary research funding**, and equity was simply part of the terms. That is the shift — from *equity as a workout tool for a distressed grantee* to **equity as a standing condition of federal support**. If it holds, the operating assumption for anyone taking CHIPS money going forward is that the government wants a piece. Which is precisely what Congress declined to require. During the 2022 CHIPS debate, [[Bernie Sanders]] and Elizabeth Warren offered an amendment that **would have mandated** warrants or equity in grant recipients. The Senate did not adopt it. The Biden administration then read that rejection as a reason not to take equity, settling instead for "upside sharing" clauses on awards above $150M. The current administration reads the same silence as permission. ## Connections - The ledger: [[Government Equity Stakes Roster]] - The frame: [[American State Capitalism]] - The precedent it generalizes: [[Intel Government Equity Stake]] ## See Also - [[CHIPS and Science Act]] - [[Department of Commerce]] - [[Howard Lutnick]] - [[Government Equity Stakes Roster]]