The U.S. Department of Commerce has awarded $2 billion to IBM and other American quantum computing companies to bolster the nation’s dominance in the industry.
“The CHIPS incentive from the DoC will support the research and development efforts of a new IBM company: Anderon, which will be America’s first pure-play quantum foundry,” IBM said in a statement. “This initiative represents one of the most significant commitments by the U.S. Government to date in quantum R&D to position the United States to manufacture most of the world’s quantum wafers.”
“With today’s CHIPS Research and Development investments in quantum computing, the Trump administration is leading the world into a new era of American innovation,” said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “These strategic quantum technology investments will build on our domestic industry, creating thousands of high-paying American jobs while advancing American quantum capabilities.”
Quantum agreements were also reached with D-Wave, Rigetti Computing, and Infleqtion, among others.
The Pentagon has also taken steps to support U.S. quantum development. Last year, the Pentagon announced that it was bolstering its development of six “Critical Technology Areas” that would “define the future of American military superiority. The six areas, Applied Artificial Intelligence (AAI), Biomanufacturing (BIO), Contested Logistics Technologies (LOG), Quantum and Battlefield Information Dominance (Q-BID), Scaled Directed Energy (SCADE), and Scaled Hypersonics (SHY), are to address challenges presented on the battlefield.
In October, the United States and South Korea finalized a trade agreement as part of President Trump’s tour of Asia, which involved “AI exports, AI standards, AI adoption, research security, 6G, biotech supply chains, and quantum innovation.”
