The U.S. government announced a $2 billion investment across nine quantum computing firms under the Trump administration, with the Department of Commerce acquiring minority, non-controlling equity stakes in each company [1, 2, 3]. IBM is the largest recipient, receiving $1 billion in government grants alongside a $1 billion internal investment in a new company named Anderon, which will operate a 300-millimeter quantum wafer foundry in Albany, New York dedicated to quantum chip production [1, 4, 5].
GlobalFoundries will receive $375 million and has launched a new unit focused on quantum technology, with the government taking roughly a 1% equity stake [1, 6, 7]. Six other firms—D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, Infleqtion, Atom Computing, Quantinuum, and PsiQuantum—are each set to receive about $100 million in funding [1, 2, 3]. Startup Diraq will receive approximately $38 million [1, 4].
The funding is part of the 2022 Chips and Science Act aimed at boosting U.S. leadership and countering China’s dominance in strategic technologies including quantum computing [1, 8]. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, "With today’s CHIPS Research and Development investments in quantum computing, the Trump administration is leading the world into a new era of American innovation. These strategic quantum technology investments will build on our domestic industry, creating thousands of high-paying American jobs while advancing American quantum capabilities." [2, 9]
Shares of all involved companies surged between 7% and over 30% following the announcements in pre-market trading [1, 6, 3]. Notably, PsiQuantum is linked to Donald Trump Jr.'s venture capital firm 1789 Capital, a passive minority investor [2]. D-Wave Quantum, taken public in 2022 by former Pentagon official Emil Michael, also benefits from the funding [2].
Quantum computing seeks to use quantum mechanics to solve complex problems faster than classical supercomputers but faces technical hurdles like high error rates at present [1, 3]. The industry is projected to generate up to $850 billion in economic value by 2040 [5].
The investment plan was first reported on May 21 by the Wall Street Journal and others, alongside IBM’s announcement of its letter of intent with the Commerce Department to build the Anderon quantum wafer foundry [1, 4, 10, 5]. Stock prices jumped significantly on the same day [1, 11].
