The Trump administration said Thursday that it had signed preliminary agreements to provide $2 billion in funding and take equity stakes in nine companies linked to quantum computing.
The move is aimed at promoting an emerging field of computing in the United States that has led to innovation in medicine, business and science. It would also significantly expand the portfolio of investments that the Trump administration has snapped up in the private sector over the past year.
The Department of Commerce said it had signed letters of intent with the companies to provide them with funding allocated from a 2022 bill, the CHIPS and Science Act. It would receive a “minority, noncontrolling equity stake in each company,” it said, “to enhance the return for the U.S. taxpayer.”
Quantum computers are based on the confounding properties of quantum mechanics, which allow for a vast acceleration in computing power. The computers can be used to discover medicines and make other scientific innovations, analyze markets and supply chains, and crack modern encryption.
The bulk of the money would go to two recipients — GlobalFoundries and IBM — for foundries that make wafers and other technology for quantum computers. IBM would receive $1 billion and GlobalFoundries $375 million.
IBM said in a statement that it would invest $1 billion alongside the government to set up a new company, Anderon, in Albany, N.Y.
Seven other companies would receive government investments to address technical challenges with various components and materials, develop underlying engineering systems and carry out other related work. Atom Computing, D-Wave, Infleqtion, PsiQuantum, Quantinuum and Rigetti would receive $100 million each and Diraq $38 million.
Howard Lutnick, the secretary of commerce, said in a statement that the investments would create thousands of high-paying jobs and advance the country’s quantum capabilities.
“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,” he said.
The Trump administration has adopted the unusual new strategy of acquiring equity stakes in private firms, arguing that this will provide taxpayers with more benefits than previous government grants and loans. The new investments mean the government now has equity stakes in more than 20 private companies.
Last year, the government took stakes or negotiated the option to obtain them in the future in Intel, U.S. Steel, Westinghouse, MP Materials and other companies. In a statement this week, the White House publicized the gains in the value of the government’s equity stake in Intel, after the company’s stock rose in recent months.
