Governments have long taken an interest in quantum computing as part of the larger picture of high-end computing that over the past several years has included the race to exascale supercomputers and in recent years AI – both generative and agentic – systems. Of those, fault-tolerant, useful quantum computing has been viewed as a long-term probability, something more likely than not to come into being at a time measured in decades than years.

But as we’ve written numerous times over the past few years, advancements in critical areas like error correction, software and algorithm development, and scale have accelerated to the point where governments – in particular the United States and China – are ramping up their investments in the technology, seeing it as both a national economic and national security imperative.

“In this technological race, theoretical breakthroughs and advances in research will be just as crucial as practical, applied technical knowledge for countries and companies,” researchers with the Center for Strategic and International Studies wrote earlier this year in a report about China’s investments. “A comprehensive quantum ecosystem that balances deep scientific discoveries with the accumulation of practical technical know-how is required.”

In its 15th Five Year Plan, which spans 2026 to 2030, the Chinese government elevated quantum to the top of its list of the seven future industries that will become new economic growth markets and spread $17.5 billion across three regional funds focused on quantum, with money for 27 direct investment projects as of earlier this year.

The United States under both the Biden and Trump administrations has talked about the importance of quantum leadership for the country and started putting money toward the effort. The first Trump Administration in 2018 enacted the National Quantum Initiative Act. The US Department of Energy also runs National Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers at five national laboratories, such as Argonne National Lab in Illinois and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California. We recently wrote about the work in hybrid classical-quantum systems being done at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee.

In its second go-round, the Trump Administration this month announced it intends to dole out more than $2 billion to nine companies, including seven for the work they’re doing in various areas of the technology. In addition, $1.375 billion will go to IBM ($1 billion) and GlobalFoundries ($375 million) to develop quantum foundries.

The rest will go a range of other quantum vendors. That includes $100 million each to Atom Computing, D-Wave, Infleqtion, PsiQuantum, Quantinuum, and Rigetti. In addition, Diraq will receive $38 million.

The 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.

IBM 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.

Anderon will offer its capabilities to IBM as well as other quantum vendors. It initially will focus on wafer fabrication for superconducting qubits and electronics wafers, with plans to expand into other modalities, such as neutral atoms and trapped ions.

IBM 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.”

GlobalFoundries 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.”

The company also launched Quantum Technology Solutions, a new business aimed at scaling manufacturing capabilities for the quantum market.

D-Wave, which already has a commercial business for its Advantage2 annealing quantum systems and is developing gate-model systems based on superconducting qubits – and effort bolstered by its acquisition this year of Quantum Circuits – said the money will be used to scale its computers. That includes not only a 100,000-qubit annealing system but also a 10,000-quit gate-model system, which will include 100 logical qubits.

Other 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.

There 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.”

In a statement, Lofgren, who is the ranking member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, said the funds appropriated through the CHIPS and Science Act by Congress for microelectronics R&D and focus on the semiconductor industry, not quantum, and were intended to drive public-private R&D, not to fund manufacturing efforts. She also noted that it was clear that Congress didn’t want the government taking equity stakes in the companies using the money, adding that doing so “represents communism, not capitalism.”

The DOC said that as part of the deals, the government will take a small equity stake in each company.

Lofgren 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.

“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.”

Whether 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.