U.S. Awards $400M to Four Quantum Computing Companies

On September 8, four quantum computing companies finalized agreements to receive $100 million each from the U.S. Department of Commerce. PsiQuantum, Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantinuum all signed definitive agreements on the same day, following letters of intent announced in May 2026. This funding, totaling $400 million for quantum R&D and domestic manufacturing, originates from the CHIPS and Science Act, a law more commonly associated with subsidizing conventional semiconductor fabrication.

It’s important to note that these are announced awards under signed agreements, not deployed hardware or delivered systems. All technical goals mentioned herein are part of each company’s roadmap. The figures and claims are derived from company press releases distributed on the same day.

CHIPS Act Funding Focus

The CHIPS and Science Act, enacted in 2022, allocated federal funds to bolster U.S. semiconductor capacity. The quantum awards are administered through the CHIPS Research and Development Office. A consistent theme across all four deals is manufacturing, extending beyond just qubits. The Department of Commerce is funding companies to establish domestic supply chains for the critical components required by quantum machines.

This manufacturing focus is evident in every announcement. Each company connects its award to onshore fabrication, domestic suppliers, or reduced reliance on foreign parts. Other governments are pursuing similar national-security driven spending, and the U.S. approach here strongly emphasizes manufacturing over pure research.

Structurally, two of the deals differ from the others. For Rigetti and D-Wave, Commerce will take a minority, non-controlling equity stake as a condition of funding, with the stated aim of enhancing taxpayer return. The announcements for PsiQuantum and Quantinuum mention co-investment and matched federal money without specifying an equity stake, which indicates variations in terms across the four agreements.

Four Companies, Four Distinct Machines

The most insightful aspect of these awards is what they reveal about competing hardware approaches. Commerce distributed funding across four architectures with differing views on how to build a practical quantum computer.

PsiQuantum employs photonics, utilizing silicon photonics and standard semiconductor lines to produce optical switches, high-temperature single-photon detectors, and advanced packaging. Since 2019, the company has partnered with GlobalFoundries on photonic chipset production. PsiQuantum states it spent approximately $200 million with American suppliers across 38 states in 2025 and holds a separate $125 million agreement with DARPA under the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative announced in July 2026.

Rigetti focuses on superconducting qubits, an approach also used by IBM and Google. Its three funded projects address known bottlenecks: miniaturizing readout electronics, expanding cryogenic capacity through a new cryostat design, and developing fabrication for high-connectivity chips. CEO Subodh Kulkarni characterized the award as a means to reduce the time and cost of building systems at scale.

Quantinuum uses trapped ions and was the sole trapped-ion company to receive a CHIPS R&D award. Its funded work encompasses next-generation ion traps and electronics, including 300mm wafer fabrication with GlobalFoundries and laser and optical components with Monarch Quantum. The company describes its machines as the world’s most accurate commercial computers.

D-Wave operates two platforms: quantum annealing and gate-model systems. Its award supports both. The company targets a planned 100,000-qubit annealing system and a 10,000-qubit gate-model system designed to yield 100 logical qubits capable of over a million operations. These are roadmap targets, not operational machines. Raw qubit counts alone do not establish quantum advantage, and D-Wave’s prominent optimization work utilizes annealing.

GlobalFoundries’ Dual Role

One company, GlobalFoundries, features in two of the four announcements. It partners with PsiQuantum on photonic chips and with Quantinuum on 300mm wafer fabrication for ion traps. The presence of GF CEO Tim Breen in both press releases underscores the central role of conventional foundry capacity in the government’s strategy.

Here is Breen’s statement on the Quantinuum partnership, from the company’s release:

“As quantum computing moves closer to commercial scale, manufacturing will be critical to unlocking its full potential. GlobalFoundries is proud to partner with Quantinuum to help scale their trapped-ion technology. By bringing our expertise in high-volume, differentiated semiconductor manufacturing, we’re helping create a path to more scalable, reliable quantum hardware and advancing the next generation of American innovation.”

The overarching theme across these four deals is that regardless of which quantum architecture ultimately succeeds, the fabrication of components at volume within the United States is essential. This is the wager the Department of Commerce is making.

Key Observations and Interpretations

All performance figures presented here originate from roadmaps or company benchmarks. None of the four companies has yet demonstrated the scale they describe, nor has any shown a fault-tolerant system performing useful work beyond the capabilities of a classical computer. Reproducing a classical result faster does not constitute advantage, nor does a high qubit count alone.

Furthermore, these awards do not directly impact cryptography timelines. No cryptographically relevant quantum computer currently exists. Post-quantum defense against future machines relies on NIST‘s standardized algorithms (FIPS 203, 204, and 205), which are considered secure but not proven unbreakable, and are distinct from quantum key distribution.

What these four deals effectively demonstrate is a government strategy to diversify its investment across competing hardware approaches without prematurely selecting a winner, while firmly linking nearly every dollar to domestic manufacturing. The straightforward interpretation is that this public funding supports four distinct hypotheses about the future of quantum hardware. It will be crucial to monitor whether the roadmap meets the timelines, whether the companies actually build the systems, and if the supply chains genuinely shift onshore. Announced money and delivered machines are not the same, and the disparity between them will be where the true narrative unfolds.