{"slug": "uncle-sam-awards-2-billion-plus-to-quantum-companies-but-wants-a-cut", "title": "Uncle Sam Awards $2 Billion-Plus To Quantum Companies, But Wants A Cut", "summary": "The Trump Administration announced it will award more than $2 billion to nine quantum computing companies, including $1.375 billion to IBM and GlobalFoundries for quantum foundries, as part of a national push to secure U.S. leadership in the technology. The funding, distributed through the Department of Commerce, comes amid intensifying competition with China, which has allocated $17.5 billion for quantum under its latest five-year plan. The investments aim to accelerate fault-tolerant quantum computing, which the U.S. views as critical for both economic growth and national security.", "body_md": "COMPUTE\n\n# Uncle Sam Awards $2 Billion-Plus To Quantum Companies, But Wants A Cut\n\nGovernments have long taken an interest in quantum computing\nas part of the larger picture of high-end computing that over the past several\nyears has included the race to [exascale\nsupercomputers](https://www.nextplatform.com/hpc/2025/01/21/hlrs-takes-first-steps-to-exascale/1656229) and in recent years AI – [both\ngenerative and agentic](https://www.nextplatform.com/compute/2026/05/19/dell-bulks-up-hardware-as-ai-infrastructure-shifts-to-on-premises/5242811) – systems. Of those, fault-tolerant, useful quantum\ncomputing has been viewed as a long-term probability, something more likely\nthan not to come into being at a time measured in decades than years.\n\nBut as we’ve written numerous times over the past few years,\nadvancements in [critical\nareas like error correction](https://www.nextplatform.com/compute/2025/02/27/aws-cat-qubits-make-quantum-error-correction-effective-affordable/1639391), [software](https://www.nextplatform.com/compute/2026/03/31/classiq-says-quantum-is-on-its-way-but-patience-is-needed/5213539)\nand algorithm development, and scale have accelerated to the point where\ngovernments – in particular the United States and China – are ramping up their\ninvestments in the technology, seeing it as both a national economic and\nnational security imperative.\n\n“In this technological race, theoretical breakthroughs and\nadvances in research will be just as crucial as practical, applied technical\nknowledge for countries and companies,” researchers with the Center for\nStrategic and International Studies wrote earlier this year in a [report\nabout China’s investments](https://www.csis.org/analysis/understanding-chinas-quest-quantum-advancement). “A comprehensive quantum ecosystem that balances\ndeep scientific discoveries with the accumulation of practical technical\nknow-how is required.”\n\nIn its [15th\nFive Year Plan](https://www.fujian.gov.cn/english/news/202510/t20251030_7028041.htm), which spans 2026 to 2030, the Chinese government elevated\nquantum to the top of its list of the seven future industries that will become\nnew economic growth markets and [spread\n$17.5 billion](https://www.csis.org/analysis/understanding-chinas-quest-quantum-advancement) across three regional funds focused on quantum, with money\nfor 27 direct investment projects as of earlier this year.\n\nThe United States under both the [Biden](https://www.eda.gov/news/press-release/2024/07/02/Elevate-Quantum-Tech-Hub)\nand Trump administrations has talked about the importance of quantum leadership\nfor the country and started putting money toward the effort. The first Trump\nAdministration in 2018 enacted the [National\nQuantum Initiative Act](https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/6227/text). The US Department of Energy also runs National\nQuantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers at five national\nlaboratories, such as Argonne National Lab in Illinois and Lawrence Berkeley\nNational Lab in California. We recently wrote about the [work\nin hybrid classical-quantum systems](https://www.nextplatform.com/hpc/2026/05/21/oak-ridge-starts-weaving-together-a-quantum-classical-hpc-and-ai-system-stack/5244272) being done at Oak Ridge National Lab in\nTennessee.\n\nIn its second go-round, the Trump Administration this month\nannounced it intends to [dole\nout more than $2 billion to nine companies](https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2026/05/department-commerce-announces-letters-intent-9-companies-2-billion), including seven for the work\nthey’re doing in various areas of the technology. In addition, [$1.375\nbillion will go to IBM](https://www.nextplatform.com/hpc/2026/03/16/ibm-unrolls-blueprint-for-quantum-classical-hpc-computing/5209400) ($1 billion) and GlobalFoundries ($375 million) to\ndevelop quantum foundries.\n\nThe rest will go a range of other quantum vendors. That\nincludes $100 million each to Atom Computing, D-Wave, Infleqtion, PsiQuantum, [Quantinuum](https://www.nextplatform.com/compute/2025/11/10/quantinuum-makes-another-milestone-on-commercial-quantum-roadmap/1688160),\nand Rigetti. In addition, Diraq will receive $38 million.\n\nThe money is being distributed via the U.S. Commerce Department (DOC) and funded through the CHIPS and Science Act created by President Biden. In announcing the funding, the DOC stressed the importance of U.S. leadership in quantum, noting the technology’s role in national defense, advanced materials, and business sectors from biopharmaceuticals to finance and banking to energy.\n\nIBM will add its own $1 billion to the DOC investment create a pure-play quantum chip foundry called Anderon. In addition, will shift IP, assets, and a skilled workforce to Anderon, which will be an IBM company operating as a 300-millimeter quantum wafer foundry and be headquartered in Albany, New York, according to Big Blue, which noted estimates that the quantum industry will generate up to $850 billion in economic value by 2040.\n\nAnderon will offer its capabilities to IBM as well as other\nquantum vendors. It initially will focus on [wafer\nfabrication for superconducting qubits](https://www.nextplatform.com/hpc/2026/05/06/cleveland-clinic-simulates-large-proteins-with-quantum-centric-supercomputing/5219579) and electronics wafers, with plans\nto expand into other modalities, such as neutral atoms and trapped ions.\n\nIBM chairman and chief executive officer Arvind Krishna said that the IT giant “has pioneered quantum computing for decades. Our work in silicon wafer fabrication has been a key to IBM's success and will be critical to enable a broader quantum technology landscape that will reshape global innovation and economic competitiveness.”\n\nGlobalFoundries noted that “while the past decade of HPC has been defined by advanced-node CPUs, GPUs and AI ASICs, the next generation will be focused on enabling real-world quantum computing, and [the foundry] will manufacture the complete quantum hardware solution from quantum processor units (QPUs) to the cryogenic read-out and control ICs that operate them and the advanced packaging and superconducting interconnects that bind them into systems.”\n\nThe company also launched Quantum Technology Solutions, a new business aimed at scaling manufacturing capabilities for the quantum market.\n\nD-Wave, which already has a [commercial\nbusiness for its Advantage2 annealing quantum systems](https://www.nextplatform.com/compute/2025/02/13/german-hpc-center-is-the-first-buyer-for-new-d-wave-quantum-computer/1649766) and is developing\ngate-model systems based on superconducting qubits – and effort bolstered by\nits [acquisition\nthis year of Quantum Circuits](https://www.nextplatform.com/compute/2026/01/07/d-wave-makes-gate-model-power-move-with-quantum-circuits-buy/4092181) – said the money will be used to scale its\ncomputers. That includes not only a 100,000-qubit annealing system but also a\n10,000-quit gate-model system, which will include 100 logical qubits.\n\nOther vendors are receiving money for work in various modalities, including neutral atoms, photonics, trapped ions, superconducting, and silicon spin. The proposed investments are not final; what the vendors received were letters of intent.\n\nThere is concern in Congress about how the money is being distributed. U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren, D-CA, called the investments “illegal and troubling on so many levels. The administration is, once again, directly defying very clear direction from Congress.”\n\n[In\na statement](https://lofgren.house.gov/media/press-releases/ranking-member-lofgren-calls-out-trump-admin-illegal-use-chips-and-science), Lofgren, who is the ranking member of the House Science,\nSpace, and Technology Committee, said the funds appropriated through the CHIPS\nand Science Act by Congress for microelectronics R&D and focus on the\nsemiconductor industry, not quantum, and were intended to drive public-private\nR&D, not to fund manufacturing efforts. She also noted that it was clear\nthat Congress didn’t want the government taking equity stakes in the companies\nusing the money, adding that doing so “represents communism, not capitalism.”\n\nThe DOC said that as part of the deals, the government will take a small equity stake in each company.\n\nLofgren also argued that there was no transparency in how these awarded were selected or the terms under which they were made. She called them “backroom deals,” pointing out that among those helping to make the decision on how the money was distributed was Dario Gil, a 22-year IBM veteran who now is undersecretary for science at the DOE.\n\n“I do not question the legitimacy of any of these companies or our government’s need to invest in U.S. leadership in quantum,” she said. “However, today’s announcement leaves me with many questions as to how this is serving the taxpayer and not just handing billions more of taxpayer dollars to cronies of the administration.”\n\nWhether Lofgren or anyone else in Congress will be able to put a block on the investments – or the avenue they would take – is unclear, so until and unless some move is made, the investments will likely happen.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/uncle-sam-awards-2-billion-plus-to-quantum-companies-but-wants-a-cut", "canonical_source": "https://www.nextplatform.com/compute/2026/05/27/uncle-sam-awards-2-billion-plus-to-quantum-companies-but-wants-a-cut/5247083", "published_at": "2026-05-27 12:30:31+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-27 12:50:09.910573+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "ai-research", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Uncle Sam", "United States", "China", "Classiq", "AWS"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/uncle-sam-awards-2-billion-plus-to-quantum-companies-but-wants-a-cut", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/uncle-sam-awards-2-billion-plus-to-quantum-companies-but-wants-a-cut.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/uncle-sam-awards-2-billion-plus-to-quantum-companies-but-wants-a-cut.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/uncle-sam-awards-2-billion-plus-to-quantum-companies-but-wants-a-cut.jsonld"}}