U.S. Government Is Now a Quantum Investor. Where the Chips Act Money Is Going. -- Barrons.com

By Mackenzie Tatananni

Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Quantum, and Quantinuum finalized deals with the U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday, trading equity for capital as quantum computing becomes a top priority for Washington.

Under a framework first announced in May, each company will receive $100 million under the 2022 Chips and Science Act, structured as a research-and-development grant. The government will take a minority stake in each company proportional to the funding amount.

Other companies have balked at surrendering equity in their quantum efforts. An executive at Google Quantum AI confirmed in June that the company had turned down the Commerce Department deal as "various conditions that came with the funding" would have hindered its engineering progress.

While capital is crucial for companies like Rigetti-which is moving away from milestone-based federal contracts as it begins selling to commercial clients-the government's seal of approval matters more to the broader ecosystem than the funding itself.

For Citi analyst Fatima Boolani, who covers industry behemoth International Business Machines, federal backing is perhaps the clearest sign that the nascent technology is gaining credibility. While quantum technology is seen as a national security issue given its threat to modern encryption, Washington also sees a chance to assert global market dominance.

"If the most powerful government in the world is putting their money where their mouth is, this is a matter of national importance," Boolani told Barron's. "That gives us more confidence from a qualitative standpoint that there is something real here to build, develop, and scale. There's a real opportunity to commercialize this technology."

IBM needs no government hand to finance its quantum efforts, yet it is charting its own path with Washington anyway. The industry titan is launching a standalone quantum chip foundry, Anderon, anchored by a joint $2 billion commitment split evenly between IBM and the Commerce Department.

Anderon is just one sign of the government's growing intent in securing supply chains. As part of its massive funding package, the Commerce Department struck a $375 million deal with GlobalFoundries to expand domestic manufacturing.

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 08, 2026 12:05 ET (16:05 GMT)