Pat Gelsinger wants to save Moore’s Law, with a little help from the Feds

Pat Gelsinger, former Intel CEO and now a general partner at Playground Global, is focusing on reviving Moore’s Law by backing xLight, a startup developing revolutionary lithography technology for semiconductor manufacturing. xLight aims to create massive free electron lasers powered by particle accelerators to generate extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light at much shorter wavelengths (around 2 nanometers) than the current industry standard of 13.5 nanometers used by ASML, the dominant player in EUV lithography. This breakthrough could address the semiconductor industry's critical bottleneck—lithography—enabling continued advances in chip performance and manufacturing. The xLight project is notable not only for its technological ambition but also because it is linked to funding under the U.S. Chips and Science Act, marking a rare instance of federal involvement in early-stage semiconductor ventures. Although the deal is still in the letter of intent phase and not finalized, Gelsinger is optimistic about its potential to sustain semiconductor innovation. xLight’s