xLight, a Palo Alto-based startup, announced a $40 million Series B funding round on July 22, 2025, to develop the world’s most powerful extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) free electron lasers (FEL) for advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Led by Playground Global, with participation from Boardman Bay Capital Management, Morpheus Ventures, Marvel Capital, and IAG Capital Partners, the oversubscribed round will fund a full-scale prototype to address cost, capability, and capacity challenges in chip production.
xLight raises $40M Series B led by Playground Global.
Developing EUV FEL to replace laser-produced plasma (LPP) sources.
Promises 4x power, 50% wafer cost reduction, and 3x lower expenses.
Partners with Cornell, LANL, and Fermilab for R&D advancements.
Aims to restore U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing.
Prototype to connect with ASML scanners by 2028.
xLight’s EUV FEL technology leverages particle accelerator physics to produce high-power, energy-efficient light sources, offering up to 4x the power of current LPP sources used by ASML. “xLight is on a mission to build a transformational new light source for semiconductor manufacturing that addresses the key challenges facing the industry today – cost, capabilities, and capacity,” said Nicholas Kelez, CEO and CTO of xLight. “This round will equip the company with the capital needed to complete detailed design and kickstart construction of our full-scale prototype.” The technology promises to reduce wafer costs by 50%, support up to 20 ASML scanners per system, and lower operating expenses by 3x, driving the next era of Moore’s Law.
The funding comes amid concerns over U.S. reliance on foreign EUV technology, highlighted by the 2013 acquisition of Cymer by ASML for $2.5 billion. “There was a terrible mistake made giving Cymer the ability to become a European-owned and controlled company,” said Pat Gelsinger, Executive Chairman of xLight and General Partner at Playground Global. “By delivering an energy-efficient EUV laser with tenfold improvements over existing technologies, xLight has the potential to drive the next era of Moore’s Law – keeping chip scaling alive, accelerating fab productivity, and anchoring this foundational capability in the U.S. supply chain.” xLight collaborates with U.S. national labs to build a domestic supply chain, countering China’s heavy investments in the sector.
Investors see xLight as a game-changer. “xLight’s breakthrough technology delivers a real edge for next-generation semiconductor manufacturing,” said Peter Barrett, General Partner and co-founder at Playground Global. “By applying proven accelerator physics in a novel way, xLight’s EUV FEL platform has the potential to enable not just more efficient production, but entirely new kinds of devices.” Will Graves, Chief Investment Officer at Boardman Bay Capital Management, added, “The company’s platform has the potential to reshape how fabs think about light, manufacturing capabilities, and scalability.” Howard Ko, Partner at Morpheus Ventures, noted, “xLight represents exactly the kind of transformative technology we seek—a company that’s not just disrupting its market, but fundamentally redefining what’s possible.”
xLight’s partnerships with leading research institutions bolster its technical roadmap. Its collaboration with Cornell’s CLASSE leverages the CBETA accelerator for energy-efficient EUV light production. With Los Alamos National Laboratory, xLight applies machine learning to automate large-scale accelerators. Fermilab supports development of superconducting radio frequency cavities and cryomodules. These partnerships position xLight to deliver a feature-complete prototype by 2028, compatible with ASML scanners.
Beyond semiconductors, xLight’s FEL technology offers applications in national security and biotechnology, including point defense, space debris mitigation, and medical imaging. Its energy-efficient design reduces power and water usage by up to 8x per wafer, addressing sustainability challenges in chip manufacturing.
xLight’s $40 million Series B funding marks a pivotal step toward revolutionizing semiconductor manufacturing. With a seasoned leadership team, strategic partnerships, and a focus on energy-efficient EUV lasers, xLight is poised to enhance chip production, reduce costs, and strengthen U.S. technological leadership in a critical industry.
xLight was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA. The company’s mission is to commercialize particle accelerator driven free electron lasers (FEL) for critical US economic and national security applications. xLight is led by a group of deeply experienced technologists and semiconductor industry veterans with a long track record of building complex technical systems. Our team has decades of experience designing, building, and deploying free electron lasers across a wide range of applications, from research and development to national security missions.
Playground Global is a deep tech venture capital firm with $1.2 billion under management, backing early-stage startups solving foundational challenges in next-generation compute, automation, energy transition, and engineered biology. Founded in 2015 and based in Palo Alto, Playground partners closely with technical and scientific founders to turn breakthrough ideas into lasting companies. The firm’s portfolio includes PsiQuantum, MosaicML (acquired by Databricks), d-Matrix, Agility Robotics, Ideon, Ultima Genomics, Strand Therapeutics, and xLight.
Boardman Bay is a venture capital and technology investment firm focused on backing the next generation of hard tech and semiconductor innovators. With a track record of supporting companies at the forefront of AI infrastructure, optical and photonic systems, chip design, and data movement, Boardman Bay has been an early investor in transformative platforms including Ayar Labs, Groq, xLight, and Credo (NASDAQ: CRDO). The firm operates a family of specialized venture funds that provide strategic, concentrated exposure to the core technologies reshaping global compute and connectivity. Founded in 2012, Boardman Bay combines deep domain expertise with a disciplined investment approach—across public and private portfolios—to help build enduring, category-defining businesses.
Founded in 2016, Morpheus Ventures is one of the largest early-stage investors in Los Angeles, and is investing in the disruption of large markets across the technology landscape from consumer to enterprise technologies including data-powered platforms, high performance compute platforms, AI, machine learning and enterprise SaaS. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles and backs great entrepreneurs worldwide.
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