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From: Denc 🗡
My IBM punt looking a little healthier, and … May 21 (Reuters) - The Trump administration will take $2 billion in equity stakes across nine quantum-computing companies, including a new IBM venture, in a major push to secure U.S. leadership in the emerging technology and counter China. The move shows the growing prominence of quantum computing, where recent technological breakthroughs have deepened investor interest in its potential to speed up tasks ranging from drug discovery to financial modelling and cryptography. The U.S. Department of Commerce said on Thursday that IBM would receive $1 billion to set up a company to manufacture quantum chips, while contract chipmaker GlobalFoundries will get $375 million to build a U.S. factory producing components for different types of quantum machines. IBM said the new company, Anderon, will be based in New Albany, New York, and become America’s first dedicated quantum chip manufacturing facility. It did not disclose the government’s stake in the new company. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told Reuters the new firm would offer its chipmaking technology to outside customers and was already in talks with potential clients. "They’re going to get the exact same capability that we have for ourselves," Krishna said. Other firms including D-Wave, Rigetti Computing and Infleqtion will get about $100 million each, while Diraq will receive up to $38 million to tackle key technical hurdles holding back more powerful systems, the Commerce Department added. Two of the recipients have ties to the administration. Emil Michael, the Pentagon’s top technology official, took D-Wave public in 2022 through a blank-check firm he was heading at the time. PsiQuantum last year raised $1 billion from investors including Nvidia’s venture capital arm and Donald Trump Jr.-backed 1789 Capital. Shares of companies involved in the deal rose between 6% and 31% following the announcement. The funding, drawn from incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act signed by former President Joe Biden, is the latest example of Washington taking equity positions in strategic industries to shore up supply chains and compete with China. Last year, the government converted some CHIPS Act grants as well as unpaid federal incentives into a 10% stake in Intel that made it the chipmaker’s largest shareholder. It has also taken a big stake in MP Materials, a rare-earth mining company. "These strategic quantum technology investments will build on our domestic industry, creating thousands of high-paying American jobs while advancing American quantum capabilities,” Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said.

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My IBM punt looking a little healthier, and …...[more]	Denc 🗡	21:54:43

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