US government pledges $2BN investment to scale quantum foundries

The US Department of Commerce has pledged investment of just over $2 billion in nine companies working on quantum technologies, with a view to solving technical challenges and ultimately supporting a production ramp through foundry operations.

Coming in the form of a “letter of intent” addressed to each of the selected companies and funded through the CHIPS and Science Act, the bulk of the incentives will go to IBM and GlobalFoundries.

“IBM will receive $1 billion in planned funding to establish a new quantum foundry subsidiary for quantum-grade superconducting wafers by building on its US leadership in superconducting quantum wafer fabrication technology,” announced the department via a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) press release.

“GlobalFoundries will receive $375 million in planned funding to establish a secure, domestic quantum foundry for leading architectures and multiple modalities (superconducting, trapped ion, photonic, topological, and silicon spin) used in large-scale quantum computers.”

Infleqtion, Quantinuum, Monarch

Other companies set to gain conditional support of $100 million include Infleqtion, PsiQuantum, and Quantinuum - all of whom utilize optics and photonics technologies extensively in their quantum computing efforts - as well as Atom Computing, D-Wave, and Rigetti, while Diraq has been earmarked for $38 million.

In exchange for that support, the Department of Commerce will receive a minority, non-controlling equity stake in each company.

Infleqtion is aiming to develop underlying engineering systems and integration techniques for large-scale neutral-atom-based quantum computers and architectures, including high-powered optical systems.

The Colorado company said that the pledged support would include some up-front funding, with the remainder conditional on hitting unspecified milestones. The deal also envisages issuance of Infleqtion common stock to the Department of Commerce at a 15 per cent discount to the NYSE-listed firm’s market price at the time.

Quantinuum’s support will be aimed at solving manufacturing bottlenecks needed to scale fault-tolerant quantum computers based on trapped-ion designs, including low-loss integrated photonics, and reliable optical components operating at critical wavelengths.

The company, also headquartered in Colorado, is already working closely with GlobalFoundries and integrated photonics specialist Monarch Quantum, with GlobalFoundries CEO Tim Breen saying:

“We believe GF's differentiated semiconductor platforms in cryo-CMOS, cryo-3D interconnect, and advanced packaging, combined with Quantinuum's deep ion-trap expertise, will help Quantinuum accelerate their quantum system scale-up roadmap to utility-scale quantum computing.”

Monarch CEO Timothy Day added: “By delivering advanced integrated photonics through a resilient domestic supply chain, we are committed to supporting the secure, scalable manufacturing required for fault-tolerant quantum systems.”

PsiQuantum and IBM

PsiQuantum, which closed a $1 billion series E venture funding round last September, indicated that the additional support would help its efforts to develop barium titanate (BTO) materials for higher-performance optical switches, alongside high-temperature single-photon detectors, and advanced packaging approaches.

Interim CEO Victor Peng, who recently took over from co-founder - and now executive chairman - Jeremy O’Brien, said: “PsiQuantum’s world-leading capability in photonics will help write the next chapter in the history of computing. Thanks to bold action from Washington, our company will continue to invest in manufacturing these cutting-edge components right here in the US.”

PsiQuantum’s chief scientific officer Pete Shadbolt, who co-founded the startup with O’Brien ten years ago, added: “The semiconductor industry helped make PsiQuantum’s path to fault-tolerant quantum computing possible, and now PsiQuantum’s scalable breakthroughs in silicon photonics will in turn create new possibilities for the future of computing.”

IBM said that it would match the $1 billion state support with $1 billion of its own cash, which will be used to establish a new subsidiary that will be known as Anderon, a dedicated quantum wafer foundry with manufacturing on full-size silicon material.

“Anderon’s forthcoming leading-edge 300mm wafer processes expect to offer the most advanced quantum wafer technologies, including superconducting wiring, through-silicon vias and bumps, and is backed by established production capabilities such as dedicated process design kits, in-line wafer testing and characterization, and established baseline routes that enable rapid iteration and reliable scalability,” stated the chip maker.