US startup xLight raises $40 million in race against China for key chipmaking laser

Silicon Valley startup xLight has raised $40 million, aiming to build the first prototype of a new class of laser that could shake up the global chip industry and reclaim U.S. leadership in a field that China is aggressively investing in.

XLight’s laser – based on the same technologies as massive particle accelerators used by U.S. national labs in cutting-edge physics research – will sit at the heart of what are known as extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines. EUV machines are the tools primarily responsible for the creation of smaller, faster chips.