Nine quantum computing companies are set to share $2 billion in federal government grants, with the United States taking minority equity stakes in each firm as part of the arrangement. The strategic funding is drawn from the 2022 Chips and Science Act.
Of the total funding package, IBM emerges as the top beneficiary, securing $1 billion. The chipmaker GlobalFoundries is in line to receive $375 million to establish secure manufacturing capacity. Three specialized companies—D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, and Infleqtion—are each expected to land $100 million in planned funding. The smallest disclosed allocation of $38 million will go to the startup Diraq, while the remaining firms expected to receive financial backing are Atom Computing, PsiQuantum, and Quantinuum. The proposed deals still need to be formally completed through final documentation.
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IBM partners with Commerce Department for New York foundry
IBM confirmed it has signed a letter of intent with the Department of Commerce to build America’s first purpose-built quantum chip foundry. To execute the project, a new standalone corporate entity named Anderon will be established and headquartered in Albany, New York. The venture will operate as a 300-millimeter quantum wafer foundry, specifically designed to serve a broad range of hardware vendors and industrial customers rather than simply modifying existing classical semiconductor lines. To match the federal grant, IBM will contribute $1 billion of its own cash to Anderon, alongside essential intellectual property, corporate assets, and specialized workforce staff. IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna stated that the new entity will be well-positioned to fuel America’s fast-growing quantum technology industry.
Strategic shift toward state-backed equity
Under the provisional terms, each of the nine firms will grant the federal government a minority ownership position, though the Commerce Department has stopped short of specifying the exact scale or legal structure of these stakes. The quantum transactions extend a broader economic pattern in which the administration has negotiated direct corporate equity alongside federal funding in sectors deemed vital to national security and technological resilience. Previous applications of this policy include securing a nearly 10 percent stake in Intel, as well as obtaining partial ownership in rare-earths producers MP Materials and Vulcan Elements.
