MilestonePolicy & securityConfirmed
US offers $2 billion to nine quantum companies in exchange for equity stakes
May 21, 2026
On May 21, 2026, the US Department of Commerce signed letters of intent to give nine companies $2.013 billion in CHIPS Act incentives for quantum research and manufacturing, taking a minority stake in each. IBM was slated for $1 billion for a quantum chip foundry; Quantinuum and PsiQuantum were among the others.
Why it matters
It makes the US government a shareholder in much of its quantum industry and steers federal chip-manufacturing money toward building quantum hardware at home.
US Government · NIST · IBM · GlobalFoundries · Atom Computing · D-Wave · Infleqtion · PsiQuantum · Quantinuum · Rigetti · Diraq
Sources (2)
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NIST (US Department of Commerce)
Department of Commerce Announces Letters of Intent With 9 Companies for $2 Billion to Accelerate U.S. Leadership in Quantum Computing
“The Department of Commerce today announced the signing of 9 letters of intent to provide $2.013 billion in federal incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act.”
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The Next Web
IBM lands $1bn as US backs nine quantum companies for $2bn
“The US Department of Commerce has signed nine letters of intent to provide $2.013bn in CHIPS Act funding to quantum computing companies, in exchange for federal equity stakes in each recipient.”
Each quote above was checked automatically against the original page. Added Oct 15, 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will review it.