IBM lands $1bn as US backs nine quantum companies for $2bn

The US Department of Commerce has signed nine letters of intent to provide $2.013bn in CHIPS Act funding to quantum computing companies in exchange for federal equity stakes in each recipient. The largest recipient is IBM with roughly $1bn, paired with a commitment to invest an additional $1bn into domestic quantum chip manufacturing. GlobalFoundries is set to receive about $375m. D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, and Infleqtion are each expected to receive about $100m, while Diraq is slated for up to $38m. The funding structure includes government equity stakes alongside grants, similar to the equity component in the Intel CHIPS award. The package covers two domestic foundries and seven quantum computing companies, aiming to build chip-making capacity to support a quantum industry.

"The US Department of Commerce has signed nine letters of intent to provide $2.013bn in CHIPS Act funding to quantum computing companies, in exchange for federal equity stakes in each recipient. The announcement, released by NIST on Wednesday, formalises a plan first reported by the Wall Street Journal and represents the largest single quantum-industry intervention by the US government to date."

"IBM is the headline recipient with roughly $1bn, paired with a company commitment to invest a further $1bn of its own into a domestic quantum chip-manufacturing facility. GlobalFoundries, IBM's foundry partner, is in for about $375m. Three publicly traded pure-play quantum companies, D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing and Infleqtion, are each expected to receive roughly $100m. Silicon-spin startup Diraq is slated for up to $38m."

"The mechanism is what makes the package unusual. The government is taking equity stakes alongside each grant, in a structure that echoes the equity component the Trump administration secured in the Intel CHIPS award last year. Quantum stocks moved sharply on the news, with publicly traded recipients rising between 7% and 21% in premarket trading."

"The administration's framing is that the funding is industrial policy aimed at China. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the letters of intent were intended to "lead the world into a new era of American innovation," language that maps cleanly onto the broader White House line on critical technologies. The package covers two domestic foundries and seven quantum computing companies, according to NIST, on the stated theory that you cannot have a quantum industry without the chip-making capacity to support it."

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