US awards $500 million to Nvidia-backed SandboxAQ for finding new chipmaking materials
SandboxAQ will develop alternatives to PFAS, catalysts, magnets and batteries for chipmaking as the Commerce Department takes a minority stake.
- On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce awarded startup SandboxAQ $500 million in CHIPS Act funding to develop materials for domestic semiconductor manufacturing and reduce reliance on foreign-controlled supply chains.
- Targeting four areas where U.S. chipmaking relies on foreign sources—PFAS substitutes, catalysts, rare earth-free magnets, and battery systems—the award addresses a strategic vulnerability: China controls more than 90 percent of global neodymium-based magnets.
- SandboxAQ will leverage physics-based "Large Quantitative Models" to screen millions of candidate materials, compressing development timelines from years to weeks by generating training data grounded in physical laws rather than human text.
- Under the agreement, Commerce will receive a minority, non-voting equity stake in SandboxAQ and royalty payments if research yields commercially viable formulations for mass production.
- Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick stated the award aims to strengthen national security by accelerating innovation in critical materials, supporting the broader CHIPS Act goal of reigniting domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
12 Articles
12 Articles
US Invests $500 Million in AI Startup to Find Alternatives to China-Dominated Chip Materials
The U.S. government is investing $500 million in an artificial intelligence startup as part of an effort to reduce reliance on imported materials critical to semiconductor manufacturing. The Department of Commerce announced on June 17 that it has signed a definitive agreement awarding the money to SandboxAQ, a California-based company spun out of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, as an independent firm in 2022. According to the department, the …
Uncle Sam bets $500M that Alphabet spinoff's AI can dig up new semiconductor materials
In order to move more semiconductor manufacturing onshore, the US needs to depend less on foreign-sourced materials. Now, the government is giving an Alphabet spinoff $500 million in CHIPS Act funds to find domestic minerals, molecules, and chemicals needed for this process. SandboxAQ (that’s AI and Quantum, for those wondering), which spun off from Alphabet in 2022 under the chairmanship of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, announced the award We…
SandboxAQ wins $500M US award to find chip materials
The US government has just become a shareholder in an AI startup, in exchange for a bet that artificial intelligence can break China’s hold on the materials inside every chip factory. The Department of Commerce has awarded SandboxAQ $500mn under the CHIPS Act to develop new chemicals and metals for domestic semiconductor manufacturing, Reuters reported. […] This story continues at The Next Web
U.S. Awards $500m to SandboxAQ to Strengthen Domestic Semiconductor Supply Chains and Cut Reliance on Foreign Materials
The U.S. government has awarded $500 million to AI-driven startup SandboxAQ to accelerate the development of new chemicals and materials critical for American semiconductor manufacturing, marking a significant push under the CHIPS Act to reduce vulnerabilities in global supply chains. The funding, announced Wednesday by the Department of Commerce, targets four priority areas: replacements for […] The post U.S. Awards $500m to SandboxAQ to Streng…
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