I-Pulse, a deep-tech company backed by mining giant BHP and co-founded by mining financier Robert Friedland and Chief Technology Officer Laurent Frescaline, announced Thursday it had signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce for a $250 million award under the CHIPS Research and Development Office program. The award targets the development of high-performance silicon-carbide semiconductor components used in pulsed-power systems. The company is based in Albuquerque near Sandia National Laboratories. YourDailyAnalysis identifies the award as a CHIPS Act allocation with an unusual sectoral profile: most CHIPS program funding has targeted conventional semiconductor fabs; this one targets a physical process technology with applications in geothermal drilling, mining, rock fragmentation, and defense.
I-Pulse uses high-voltage solid-state silicon-carbide switches to generate controlled electrical pulses that fracture rock formations ahead of mechanical drilling. In geothermal drilling, those pulses increase drilling speed and extend drill-bit life. In mining and resource extraction, the same technology can fragment ore bodies more efficiently than conventional explosives.
The CHIPS program funding connects the silicon-carbide technology to defense and national security applications. Pulsed-power systems have direct military applications including directed-energy weapons, railguns, and high-power radar systems. Friedland described the award as having profound implications for energy security and national defense, and has been building a relationship with the Trump administration on critical minerals supply chain security. YourDailyAnalysis traces the convergence of mining, semiconductor manufacturing, and defense industrial base policy behind this single award: pulsed-power silicon carbide sits at the intersection of all three.
The investor roster amplifies the strategic signal. In addition to BHP, the company has attracted backing from Rio Tinto, Newmont, and Teck Resources. Chile’s state-owned copper producer Codelco invested approximately $50 million. That combination reflects a shared commercial bet: if pulsed-power drilling technology can reduce the cost of accessing hard-rock mineral deposits, every major miner benefits.
Ivanhoe Electric Inc., another Friedland-connected company, is separately working with the U.S. Export-Import Bank on financing for an Arizona copper project. China’s Commerce Department placed export controls on MP Materials Corp. and USA Rare Earth Inc. last week. That sequence describes an active critical minerals supply chain competition playing out through multiple regulatory and financial channels simultaneously.
The pulsed-power application to geothermal drilling is the one with the broadest potential commercial impact outside defense. Geothermal energy has been constrained by the high cost of drilling into hot rock formations. A technology that can fragment rock ahead of the drill bit could reduce the cost per meter drilled significantly, making previously uneconomic geothermal projects viable. Your Daily Analysis surfaces the Friedland factor as the connective thread: this is the same individual who co-founded Ivanhoe Mines and helped develop the Kamoa-Kakula copper mine, now deploying capital and political relationships toward a U.S.-centric critical minerals strategy that crosses mining, defense, and semiconductor policy simultaneously.
The CHIPS and Science Act was enacted primarily to support domestic fabrication of advanced logic and memory chips. Awarding $250 million to a pulsed-power technology company extends the program’s mandate into enabling technologies for both semiconductor manufacturing equipment and defense industrial applications.
Development of I-Pulse’s project could begin as early as 2027.
Watch whether the Albuquerque facility’s development timeline aligns with the Department of Defense’s current procurement cycles for pulsed-power applications. YourDailyAnalysis argues that the most consequential question about this award is not whether the pulsed-power drilling technology works commercially – independent backing from BHP, Rio Tinto, and Newmont suggests it does – but whether the CHIPS program funding produces manufacturing scale fast enough to matter for defense procurement timelines already running under urgency.
