Donald Trump’s big push on quantum computing: US invests $2 billion in IBM, GlobalFoundries and other firms | Today’s news

The Trump administration will take $2 billion in equity stakes in nine quantum computing companies, including IBM’s new venture, as part of a major effort to secure US leadership in emerging technologies and counter China.

The move shows the growing importance of quantum computing, where recent technological breakthroughs have fueled investor interest in its potential to accelerate tasks from drug discovery to financial modeling and cryptography.

The U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday that IBM will receive $1 billion to start a quantum chip company, while contract chip maker GlobalFoundries will get $375 million to build a U.S. factory to produce components for various types of quantum machines.

IBM said the new company, Anderon, will be based in New Albany, New York, and will become America’s first dedicated quantum chip manufacturing facility. It did not disclose the government’s stake in the new company.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told Reuters that the new firm would offer its chip-making technology to external customers and that it was already in talks with potential clients. “They will get exactly the same ability we have for ourselves,” Krishna said.

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Other firms including D-Wave, Rigetti Computing and Infleqtion will each receive about $100 million, while Diraq will receive up to $38 million to address key technical hurdles holding back more powerful systems, the trade department added.

Two of the recipients have ties to the administration. Emil Michael, the Pentagon’s top technology official, took D-Wave public in 2022 through the blank check firm he ran at the time. PsiQuantum raised $1 billion last year from investors including Nvidia’s venture capital arm and Donald Trump Jr.-backed 1789 Capital. Shares of companies involved in the deal rose between 6% and 31% after the announcement.

The funding, drawn from the CHIPS and Science Act stimulus signed by former President Joe Biden, is the latest example of Washington taking capital positions in strategic industries to bolster supply chains and compete with China.

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Last year, the government parlayed some subsidies from the CHIPS Act, as well as unpaid federal incentives, into a 10 percent stake in Intel, making it the chip maker’s largest shareholder. It also acquired a large stake in rare earth mining company MP Materials.

“These strategic investments in quantum technologies will build on our domestic industry, create thousands of high-paying American jobs while expanding America’s quantum capabilities,” said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

An uncertain timeline for quantum computers

Quantum computing has attracted growing investor interest following recent advances, but major technical challenges remain, including a high error rate that limits practical performance.

IBM will make a $1 billion contribution to Anderon. Anderon will also provide the intellectual property, assets and workforce and bring in additional investors as the new company grows.

GlobalFoundries, in which the U.S. government is taking an equity stake of about 1%, said it has launched a new venture called Quantum Technology Solutions aimed at scaling manufacturing for quantum computer hardware.

Gregg Bartlett, chief technology officer of GlobalFoundries, told Reuters the company will work with several firms on control chips that can withstand the ultra-low temperatures required for quantum computers, as well as advanced packaging technologies.

Matthew Kinsella, CEO of Infleqtion, told Reuters that the investment underscored the growing potential of the technology.

“The government has demonstrated that it is not yet funding technologies that it considers speculative, and I believe that this investment really further confirms that quantum computing is coming much faster than anyone thinks,” Kinsella said.

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