The US Department of Commerce has announced plans to award up to $389 million in research and development funding to four domestic enterprises advancing power semiconductor architectures and critical upstream materials. Drawn from the $10 billion R&D allocation established under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, the program has signed non-binding letters of intent with Helion, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Vertical Semiconductor, and Sibelco North America. In exchange for the capital grants, the US federal government will secure minority, non-controlling, and non-voting equity stakes in the participating entities.
The funding round targets high-voltage switching and extreme-environment microelectronics essential for commercial fusion energy, AI data centres, and domestic power delivery networks. Helion is slated to receive up to $175 million—supplemented by $50 million in private capital—to develop high-voltage power semiconductors and advanced power modules engineered to manage high-peak-current pulsed loads from magnetic containment generators. Commonwealth Fusion Systems will receive up to $85 million to develop power electronics, radio-frequency plasma heating semiconductors, diagnostic silicon, and radiation-hardened devices for robotic maintenance systems.
In computing infrastructure, Vertical Semiconductor, an MIT spinout, will secure up to $73 million to commercialize vertical gallium nitride (GaN) power transistors. Unlike conventional lateral GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) limited to lower voltages, vertical GaN conducts current through the bulk substrate, providing higher breakdown voltages and power density. The company plans to deploy the technology in 2.5-megawatt AI data centre server racks to curb conversion losses and reduce magnetics footprints.
Addressing foundational materials, Sibelco North America will receive up to $56 million to develop next-generation purification and leaching technologies for ultra-high-purity (UHP) quartz. The firm plans to establish a testing and demonstration facility in North Carolina. UHP quartz is an indispensable material across front-end wafer fabrication, used in quartz crucibles for Czochralski silicon ingot pulling, furnace tubes, and plasma etch glassware. Securing localized refining capacity directly buffers semiconductor fabs against supply interruptions in raw crystal growth and wafer processing consumables.
The initiative highlights a strategic shift toward funding specialized wide-bandgap and materials infrastructure alongside leading-edge logic. As high-performance AI accelerators drive power consumption to multi-megawatt thresholds, and energy systems demand resilient high-voltage switches, front-end power electronics have become an essential pillar of semiconductor supply chain sovereignty.
