The U.S. government is stepping in as a shareholder. According to a Wall Street Journal report on May 21, the Trump administration plans to funnel roughly $2 billion into nine quantum computing firms, including IBM, with some money exchanging for equity stakes. Shares of the beneficiaries surged between 7% and 25% in pre-market trading.
IBM Gets $1 Billion; Startups Grab $100M Each
Funds come from the CHIPS Act R&D pool, managed by the Commerce Department's restructuring office under Secretary Howard Lutnick. Breakdown: IBM receives about $1 billion, tied to its Anderon quantum chip fab project, likely with equity terms. GlobalFoundries gets $375 million; D-Wave, Rigetti Computing, and Infleqtion each land roughly $100 million; smaller startup Diraq pockets $38 million. The government will also obtain minority equity in these firms.
“Government-as-Shareholder” Playbook Expands
This isn't Washington's first equity move. Earlier, the Trump admin injected nearly $8.9 billion into Intel in exchange for about 10% stake. The logic: when taxpayer money backs high-risk frontier tech, the public should share in future gains — not just hand out grants. Exact equity ratios and warrant structures are still being finalized.
Countering China; Quantum's AI & Defense Edge
Quantum computing is seen as the ultimate disruptor — exponential compute power to accelerate drug discovery, materials science, and break AI bottlenecks. By tying capital to equity, the U.S. aims to build an unbreachable moat against Chinese rivals. Separately, Solana recently unveiled a quantum-resistant upgrade, while Justin Sun warned at Hong Kong Web3 Carnival that AI could crack Bitcoin by 2029. Debates around freezing Satoshi's 1.7 million BTC are heating up.