The US government is now a minority shareholder in nine quantum computing companies. The Commerce Department announced today that it will distribute more than $2 billion in CHIPS Act funding to firms including IBM, GlobalFoundries, D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, Infleqtion and Australian startup Diraq, taking equity stakes in each recipient in exchange for the capital.
IBM gets $1 billion to establish Anderon, a standalone subsidiary that will operate as America's first dedicated quantum chip foundry at a 300mm fabrication facility in Albany, New York. IBM is matching with $1 billion of its own cash, intellectual property and talent. GlobalFoundries receives $375 million and launched a new quantum manufacturing division. Rigetti, D-Wave and Infleqtion each get roughly $100 million.
The market response was immediate. IBM rose more than 7%. D-Wave jumped 16%. Rigetti climbed 15%. Infleqtion gained 26%.
The equity model is now the default
The significance extends beyond quantum. This is the latest step in what has become the Trump administration's preferred mechanism for deploying industrial policy: capital in exchange for ownership, not grants with milestone conditions attached.
The template was set last August when Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick converted $8.9 billion in previously awarded CHIPS Act grants into a 9.9% equity stake in Intel, making the federal government the chipmaker's largest shareholder. The Pentagon took a 15% stake in rare earth producer MP Materials. Stakes followed in Lithium Americas and Trilogy Metals. The US government now holds equity positions in at least a dozen public and private companies across semiconductors, critical minerals and quantum computing.
The Biden administration's original CHIPS Act framework tied funding to construction milestones, labour commitments and restrictions on stock buybacks. The equity conversion model dispenses with most of those conditions. Senator Elizabeth Warren has publicly questioned whether the approach provides adequate safeguards for taxpayers. Lutnick has said the stakes will be non-voting.
Why quantum, why now
Quantum computing remains pre-commercial by any conventional revenue measure. D-Wave generated $8.8 million in quarterly revenue in its most recent report. Rigetti posted $4.4 million. These are not businesses that would attract $100 million investments on financial merit alone.
The rationale is strategic. China has committed billions to quantum research. Quantum processors could eventually break current encryption standards, a national security concern that has accelerated government interest in ensuring the foundational hardware and manufacturing capability sits on American soil.
IBM's Anderon foundry is the most concrete outcome. A dedicated quantum wafer fab gives the US a domestic supply chain for a technology that currently depends on repurposed semiconductor manufacturing processes not designed for quantum-specific requirements.
The governance question
The federal government owning minority stakes in strategic technology companies is, by American standards, unusual. It is not unprecedented. The Treasury held equity in General Motors, Citigroup and AIG during the 2008 financial crisis. But those were emergency interventions in failing companies. The quantum deals involve early-stage businesses that are not in distress.
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The model creates a structural alignment between government policy objectives and corporate outcomes that goes beyond traditional grant-making. It also creates potential conflicts. When the Commerce Department is both regulator and shareholder, the lines of accountability blur.
For now, the market is treating the deals as validation. The stock moves suggest investors see federal equity as a floor under companies that might otherwise struggle to justify their valuations on revenue alone. Whether that floor holds will depend on whether quantum computing delivers commercially before the political winds change.
