en.Wedoany.com Reported - The U.S. Department of Commerce has included quantum computing hardware manufacturing as a key focus of CHIPS Act funding. On May 21, the Department announced the signing of nine non-binding preliminary memoranda of terms, proposing to provide $2.013 billion in federal incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act to support two U.S. quantum foundry companies and seven quantum computing companies, accelerating the critical manufacturing and engineering capabilities needed for utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers.
The core aim of this funding arrangement is not to subsidize individual companies, but to establish a hardware foundation for the U.S. quantum computing ecosystem, spanning wafers, devices, packaging, readout, optical control, and multi-technology pathway validation. The Department explained that quantum computing has significant implications for national defense, advanced materials, biomedical discovery, and energy systems, and a robust domestic quantum ecosystem is vital to U.S. national security, technological resilience, and long-term strategic leadership. The combination of companies proposed for funding covers quantum foundry services and modalities including superconducting, trapped ion, photonic, neutral atom, and silicon spin. The policy goal is to advance multiple quantum modalities simultaneously, mitigate the risk of betting on a single approach, and address unresolved engineering challenges within a multi-year acceleration framework.
The two quantum foundry companies will serve as the manufacturing foundation. GlobalFoundries is slated to receive $375 million in planned funding to establish secure, domestic U.S. quantum foundry capabilities, serving the diverse architectures and modalities required for large-scale quantum computers, including superconducting, trapped ion, photonic, topological, and silicon spin. IBM is slated to receive $1 billion in planned funding to establish a new quantum foundry subsidiary, building manufacturing capabilities around quantum-grade superconducting wafers and continuing its foundational work in U.S. superconducting quantum wafer manufacturing technology.
The seven quantum computing companies correspond to different technology pathways and engineering challenges. Atom Computing is slated to receive $100 million in planned funding to address hardware development and system integration for neutral atom quantum computing, with goals including manipulating, controlling, and addressing tens of thousands of qubits and validating their performance. Diraq is slated to receive up to $38 million in planned funding to develop and scale silicon spin quantum logic units and accelerate the manufacturing and integration capabilities needed for large, reliable qubit arrays. D-Wave is slated to receive $100 million in planned funding to advance annealing and gate-model superconducting quantum computing systems, focusing on qubit count, error rates, coherence, advanced dielectric material optimization, interface control, and high-density advanced packaging. Infleqtion is slated to receive $100 million in planned funding to develop the underlying engineering systems and integration capabilities required for large-scale neutral atom quantum computers and architectures, including high-power optical systems and novel readout and error correction systems.
PsiQuantum, Quantinuum, and Rigetti correspond to photonic, trapped ion, and superconducting scaling pathways, respectively. PsiQuantum is slated to receive $100 million in planned funding for critical photonic quantum computing challenges such as mature high-performance electro-optic materials, high-temperature single-photon detectors, and ultra-low-loss photonic packaging. Quantinuum is slated to receive $100 million in planned funding to address technical and manufacturing bottlenecks in scaling fault-tolerant trapped ion quantum computers, including low-loss integrated photonics and reliable optical components at critical wavelengths for trapped ions. Rigetti is slated to receive up to $100 million in planned funding to develop and scale next-generation superconducting quantum computing technology and architecture, focusing on miniaturizing and integrating novel readout electronics and next-generation cryostat architectures.
The U.S. Department of Commerce stated that each company receiving funding will be required to provide the U.S. government with a minority, non-controlling equity stake to enhance the return for American taxpayers. This arrangement indicates that the CHIPS Research and Development Office is advancing quantum computing from research projects into advanced manufacturing and supply chain capability building. While quantum computing still requires breakthroughs in error rates, device consistency, cryogenic system integration, control hardware, ultra-fast readout electronics, photonic loss, and interconnects before large-scale commercialization, this $2.013 billion planned funding breaks these challenges down across nine companies and multiple pathways, providing a clearer policy and funding entry point for the U.S. quantum hardware manufacturing system.
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