US grants $250M to Friedland's I-Pulse in domestic chip push
What's the deal? The US government is putting $250 million into I-Pulse Inc., a startup co-founded by billionaire Robert Friedland, to develop semiconductor and pulsed-power technology. The grant runs through the Commerce Department's CHIPS program and aims to cut American reliance on foreign chip supply chains.
What's the endgame? I-Pulse works on semiconductor components tied to geothermal drilling technology, placing it at the intersection of chip fabrication, high-voltage electronics, and energy. The funding backs a niche capability Washington wants to build at home rather than import from Asia.
Why now? The award fits an aggressive US effort to rebuild domestic chip manufacturing through direct public investment under the CHIPS and Science Act. Policymakers are prioritising technologies seen as material to production capacity and national security.
How big is it? For a government grant to a chip startup, $250 million sits near the top: it ranks in the 99th percentile of such rounds in the sector, based on a sample of more than 3,000. Still, it is modest next to multi-billion-dollar packages for incumbents — Intel has preliminarily secured up to $8.5 billion in direct CHIPS Act funding.
What could go wrong? Execution risk is high. If the technology fails to cut drilling costs or scale reliably, the grant becomes a capex drag rather than a platform. There is political risk too: a shift in administration priorities or slow disbursement could stall the program.
The signal: The deal matters less for its size than as a sign Washington will take substantial stakes in high-risk, billionaire-backed startups — not just subsidise existing fabs — to secure future manufacturing breakthroughs.
Read more: Bloomberg, allmind.ai, signalpro.markets, linkedin.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
