Commerce announces $2 billion in quantum computing incentives for nine companies
The Department of Commerce signed letters of intent to distribute roughly $2 billion in federal funds to nine companies in an effort to accelerate their work related to quantum computing. The deals will also give the department a non-controlling stake in each company.
The financial incentives come as part of the CHIPS and Science Act, a 2022 law focused on U.S. semiconductor production, and directly invest in manufacturing, research and innovation in microelectronics, per a Thursday release. The equity is a condition of the agreement meant to “enhance the return for the U.S. taxpayer.”
In a statement included in the announcement, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said the investments would “build on our domestic industry” and create “thousands of high-paying American jobs.”
Specifically, the awards will go to two domestic “quantum foundry” companies — GlobalFoundries and IBM — and seven quantum computing companies. The other companies were Atom Computing, Diraq, D-Wave, Infleqtion, PsiQuantum, Quantinuum, and Rigetti.
The most substantial funding is slated for the two foundry companies, with $375 million for Global Foundries and $1 billion for IBM. The other companies received between $38 and $100 million each.
Those new investments will support major business expansions for the awardees.
In its own release Thursday, IBM announced the CHIPS incentive would support research-and-development efforts of a new company called Anderon. That standalone IBM company “will operate as a state-of-the-art 300-millimeter quantum wafer foundry” and help the U.S. “solidify” itself as a leader in the quantum industry, per the release.
According to IBM, the investment is one of the most significant the U.S. government has made into quantum research and development.
“With the support of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Anderon will be well-positioned to fuel America’s fast-growing quantum technology industry,” Arvind Krishna, chairman and CEO of IBM, said in a statement in the release.
Similarly, GlobalFoundries launched a new quantum business Thursday called Quantum Technology Solutions. That business will help scale manufacturing capabilities for utility-scale quantum computing, per the release.
Per GlobalFoundries’ announcement, Commerce will “receive a strategic equity investment in GF, representing approximately one percent ownership as of today’s date, enabling the American public to share in GF’s growth.”
GlobalFoundries CEO Tim Breen celebrated agreements in a statement included in the release.
“Deepening our partnership with the United States Government will support a coordinated national push to expand domestic manufacturing, build supply-chain resilience and ensure that revolutionary technologies such as next-generation quantum systems are developed and manufactured in the U.S.,” Breen said.
As quantum computing technology progresses, there’s an increased incentive to build out domestic research and manufacturing. According to a McKinsey report in April, quantum computing has the potential to generate $1.3 trillion to $2.7 trillion in economic value for companies across the globe by 2035.
