Extropic Secures Up to $75 Million in CHIPS R&D Funding for U.S. AI Chip Manufacturing
Updated
Updated · AI Insider · Jul 29
Extropic Secures Up to $75 Million in CHIPS R&D Funding for U.S. AI Chip Manufacturing
1 articles · Updated · AI Insider · Jul 29
Summary
$75 million in planned CHIPS R&D support would help Extropic scale its thermodynamic AI hardware, after it signed a non-binding letter of intent with the U.S. Commerce Department.
The funding targets Extropic’s Thermodynamic Sampling Units, probabilistic chips that use thermodynamic fluctuations in CMOS transistors to run AI and simulation workloads with far lower power use than conventional GPUs.
Extropic said the project would bring Z1 processor clusters online, build rack-scale systems, and demonstrate performance on generative-AI benchmarks while advancing algorithms tailored to the new hardware.
A key goal is domestic production of a follow-on Z1.5 chip at a U.S. foundry using mature process nodes, aiming to establish an onshore manufacturing path without relying on scarce leading-edge capacity.
The award still depends on definitive agreements and project milestones, but it underscores Washington’s push to back more energy-efficient AI compute and expand U.S. semiconductor manufacturing.