Quantum stocks jump on reports of $2 billion in U.S. grants
Shares of companies operating in the quantum computing sector rose sharply in premarket trading on Thursday. The move followed reports that the U.S. government plans to award $2 billion in grants to nine industry players.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the deals would give the U.S. government equity stakes in these companies. IBM is expected to be the largest beneficiary of the support package. The U.S. Commerce Department has agreed to award the company $1 billion.
IBM shares rose about 6% in premarket trading, although they had earlier climbed nearly 8%. The company is considered one of the leaders in developing supercomputers based on quantum technologies. Developers of such systems say they will be able to solve complex problems that modern classical computers cannot handle.
According to the WSJ, chipmaker GlobalFoundries is set to receive $375 million. Other grant recipients are expected to include D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing and Infleqtion, which are each expected to receive $100 million. Startup Diraq will reportedly receive $38 million.
Against this backdrop, D-Wave shares rose about 16%, Rigetti gained around 13.8%, and Infleqtion climbed more than 23% before the start of Thursday’s regular trading session.
The agreements still need to be formally completed. The funding will reportedly come under the Chips and Science Act, passed in 2022.
IBM is ready to cooperate
Shortly after the WSJ report was published, IBM confirmed that it would work with the U.S. government to create the country’s first specialized quantum foundry. The project is expected to be supported by the proposed $1 billion grant. IBM said the initiative would accelerate quantum innovation in the United States and launch advanced quantum wafer production for a wide range of companies.
The Commerce Department funding is expected to support research and development at a new IBM company called Anderon. IBM itself will also invest $1 billion in the company, matching the size of the government grant.
According to IBM, Anderon will be based in Albany, New York, and operate as an independent company. It will build a modern facility for producing 300-millimeter quantum wafers. IBM believes the project will help the United States strengthen its leadership in the emerging quantum industry, which the company estimates could generate up to $850 billion in economic value by 2040, support economic growth and strengthen national security.
IBM’s path to quantum computing
IBM began actively developing quantum computers in the 2010s, with 2016 becoming an important public milestone. That year, the company opened cloud access to a real quantum processor, allowing researchers, developers and students to remotely run experiments on quantum hardware. From that point on, IBM became one of the key players in the field and began developing not only the processors themselves, but also the software ecosystem around them.
In the following years, IBM made significant progress in scaling the technology. The company created a lineup of quantum processors, introduced more advanced systems with improved architecture and lower error rates, and began developing modular quantum computers as the foundation for future computing systems. IBM now views quantum technology not as a laboratory experiment, but as a separate industry capable of solving problems that remain too complex for classical computers.
As a reminder, IBM announced the launch of a program designed to help people prepare for careers as data analysts.
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