The Department of Commerce has taken a major step toward establishing a domestic quantum computing supply chain, issuing letters of intent with nine companies under the CHIPS and Science Act totaling $2.013 billion in incentive funding. The announcement positions the federal government as both a funder and an equity stakeholder across a portfolio of quantum hardware companies spanning superconducting circuits, trapped ions, photonics, silicon spin qubits, and other emerging qubit architectures.
Who Is Receiving Funding and How Much
IBM is the largest single recipient in the package. The company will receive $1 billion in CHIPS Act incentives and has committed to a $1 billion company match, bringing its total quantum foundry investment to $2 billion. IBM's facility will be located in Albany, New York, and is designed to produce quantum-grade superconducting wafers — the specialized semiconductor substrates required to fabricate superconducting qubit chips. Superconducting qubits are currently the most widely deployed qubit modality for gate-based quantum computation, and IBM has been a leading developer of the technology for over a decade.
GlobalFoundries, the multinational contract semiconductor manufacturer with deep U.S. manufacturing roots, is set to receive $375 million. Its mandate under the agreement is broader than IBM's: GlobalFoundries will work to scale multiple qubit architectures, including superconducting circuits, photonics, and trapped ions. The company's existing semiconductor fabrication infrastructure makes it a natural candidate for multi-architecture quantum foundry work, as it already operates advanced process nodes that can be adapted for quantum device production.
The remaining seven recipients each receive smaller but still substantial awards. Atom Computing, D-Wave, Infleqtion, PsiQuantum, Quantinuum, and Rigetti are each slated to receive approximately $100 million. Diraq, a silicon spin qubit company, is set to receive $38 million — the smallest award in the package, reflecting the earlier-stage nature of silicon spin qubit technology compared to more mature modalities. Across all nine recipients, the total federal commitment of $2.013 billion is supplemented by IBM's own $1 billion match, making the combined public-private investment in domestic quantum fabrication infrastructure more than $3 billion when IBM's contribution is included.
In a notable structural feature of the awards, the federal government will receive minority non-controlling equity stakes in all nine recipient companies. This approach mirrors terms used in some CHIPS Act semiconductor awards and gives taxpayers a financial interest in the upside of these investments without the government taking a controlling position in any private enterprise.
The Policy Context: CHIPS Act Quantum Expansion
The CHIPS and Science Act, enacted in 2022, included significant funding for semiconductor manufacturing and R&D. Quantum computing was explicitly included within the act's science provisions, and the Commerce Department's quantum incentive package represents one of the most concrete deployments of that authority to date. Commerce issued the letters of intent to spur domestic quantum manufacturing capacity — consistent with the act's broader goal of reducing U.S. dependence on foreign-sourced advanced technology components. The distribution of awards across nine companies spanning at least five distinct qubit architectures reflects a deliberate portfolio strategy: rather than picking a single technology winner at this stage of the field's maturity, Commerce is funding the infrastructure needed to scale whichever architecture or architectures prove most capable over the coming decade.
What It Means for Contractors
For government contractors already active in the quantum space — whether as hardware integrators, software developers, or system designers — the Commerce Department awards signal that quantum computing is transitioning from a research curiosity into a structured domestic industrial base. The creation of dedicated quantum foundries at IBM and GlobalFoundries will, over time, change the procurement landscape by making domestically fabricated quantum hardware available to government programs that require supply chain assurance or security classifications incompatible with foreign-sourced components.
Companies working on quantum sensing, quantum networking, or quantum-safe cryptography should also pay attention to the breadth of the recipient portfolio. The nine awardees cover multiple qubit modalities: superconducting (IBM, GlobalFoundries, Rigetti), photonics (PsiQuantum, GlobalFoundries), trapped ions (Quantinuum, GlobalFoundries), neutral atoms (Atom Computing, Infleqtion), quantum annealing (D-Wave), and silicon spin (Diraq). This diversity is intentional — no single architecture has yet demonstrated clear superiority for all use cases, and the government is hedging across the field.
For contractors pursuing quantum-related programs across the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, or civilian science agencies, the foundry investments at IBM and GlobalFoundries are particularly relevant. Programs that require access to quantum hardware at scale — whether for simulation, optimization, or eventually fault-tolerant computation — will benefit from increased domestic production capacity. Contractors designing hybrid classical-quantum architectures for government applications should begin assessing how Albany-fabricated superconducting wafers and GlobalFoundries' multi-architecture outputs might fit into their long-range roadmaps.
The equity stake mechanism also introduces a new dynamic for the quantum industry. By taking minority positions in all nine awardees, the government gains financial insight into company performance and financial health over time, which could influence future procurement decisions or follow-on funding rounds. Recipients will need to manage the reporting and governance requirements that accompany government equity participation — including potential disclosure obligations — alongside their commercial growth objectives and investor relations.
Contractors engaging with these awards should note two structural features that distinguish them from standard procurement actions. First, all nine letters of intent are not final awards — each company must negotiate specific terms before any funding is obligated. That negotiation phase introduces timing uncertainty and the possibility that individual awards could be restructured or reduced before contracts are executed. Second, the government's minority non-controlling equity stakes in all nine awardees create ongoing reporting and governance obligations for recipients. Companies will need to manage the disclosure requirements that accompany government equity participation alongside their commercial growth objectives. For contractors pursuing teaming or subcontracting relationships with any of the nine awardees, understanding each partner's equity and reporting obligations will be relevant to due diligence. IBM's Albany foundry, once operational, will produce quantum-grade superconducting wafers available to government programs requiring domestic supply chain assurance. GlobalFoundries' mandate to scale superconducting circuits, photonics, and trapped ion architectures simultaneously positions it as a multi-modal production resource for programs that have not yet committed to a single qubit technology.
