The U.S. Department of Commerce now owns part of five companies through its CHIPS quantum awards. D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, Quantinuum, and GlobalFoundries disclosed in September that they had issued or agreed to issue shares to the department under their CHIPS and Science Act awards. IBM reported in October that Anderon, its new quantum wafer foundry subsidiary, had issued Commerce “a minority equity interest.”
The department releases the award money in stages. For D-Wave, Rigetti, and Quantinuum, the department made between 44% and 56% of each award of up to $100 million available at the start and is holding back the remainder until each company meets project milestones. The Energy Department (DOE) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) pay for demonstrated machines or verified designs in their newest quantum programs.
Washington now makes its largest quantum awards on an investor’s terms, taking shares and paying as companies meet milestones, so the government owns stakes in firms whose technologies it also funds, evaluates, and licenses for export. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated in March 2026 that federal agencies had spent about $200 million a year on quantum computing research and development since fiscal 2020, about a fifth of the roughly $1 billion a year that went to quantum information science. Commerce’s quantum letters of intent in May, worth $2.013 billion, equal about 10 years of that quantum computing spending in scale, though they are multi-year commitments for manufacturing and infrastructure and not annual research budgets. Those awards are not research grants, and they include $1 billion for IBM’s quantum foundry subsidiary.
Research grants, the earlier model
Federal agencies spent $1.036 billion on quantum information science research and development in fiscal 2023, according to the National Quantum Initiative’s annual report of December 2024. They had $1.006 billion of enacted budget authority for fiscal 2024 and requested $998 million for fiscal 2025.
GAO credited the field’s advances to programs and research initiatives at agencies including NIST, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Energy and Defense departments. In November 2025, DOE renewed its five National Quantum Information Science Research Centers with $625 million for awards lasting up to five years, $125 million of it in fiscal 2025 money. DOE said the centers support “fundamental science” across quantum computing, simulation, networking, and sensing.
Under those programs, agencies paid universities and national laboratories to do research. In April 2025, DARPA named the first companies in its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), which grew out of an earlier pilot program called US2QC. Under QBI, DARPA pays companies to have their designs evaluated. In 2026, Commerce and DOE added payments tied to equity and to demonstrated machines.
Commerce’s shares and tranches
On May 21, 2026, Commerce signed letters of intent with nine companies for $2.013 billion of CHIPS and Science Act funding from its CHIPS Research and Development Office. In a letter of intent, the parties outline a deal’s terms before signing a binding agreement. The department said it would receive “a minority, non-controlling equity stake in each company” as a condition of the funds, “to enhance the return for the U.S. taxpayer.”
By November 13, six of the nine had final awards. Quantum Observer found none announced for Atom Computing, Infleqtion, or Diraq.
| Recipient | Planned in May | Status on November 13 | Equity disclosed | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderon (IBM subsidiary) | $1 billion | Final. $650 million at closing, $350 million on milestones | A minority equity interest | IBM 10-Q |
| GlobalFoundries | $375 million | Final. Up to $375 million over five years, tied to milestones | 9,907,399 shares at $37.85 | GlobalFoundries release, Form 6-K |
| D-Wave Quantum | $100 million | Final. $53.6 million at the start | 7,095,721 shares at $14.093 | Form 8-K, Form 8-K/A |
| Rigetti Computing | Up to $100 million | Final. $43.9 million at the start | 7,739,938 shares at $12.92 | Form 8-K |
| Quantinuum | $100 million | Final. $56.0 million at the start | 2,369,528 Class A shares | Form 8-K |
| PsiQuantum | $100 million | Final | None disclosed by the private company | NIST, PsiQuantum |
| Atom Computing | $100 million | Letter of intent | None yet | NIST |
| Infleqtion | $100 million | Letter of intent | None yet | NIST |
| Diraq | Up to $38 million | Letter of intent | None yet | NIST |
Under the final agreements, the department keeps wide control over the cash. Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantinuum each signed an other transaction agreement, a federal funding instrument outside the procurement rules of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Under Rigetti’s agreement, Commerce releases later installments only if it determines “to its satisfaction in its sole discretion” that the milestones have been met, according to the company’s filing. If Rigetti misses a required project activity, the department may demand back the payments it has made, subject to any cure period or forbearance provisions.
IBM wrote that under Anderon’s agreement, Commerce may terminate for convenience and has “certain clawback rights.” IBM reports the department’s stake as a noncontrolling interest on its balance sheet.
Commerce received D-Wave’s shares at a discount, 15% below the lowest of D-Wave’s closing prices on three dates in the deal’s history, the company disclosed. Quantinuum agreed to a discounted pricing formula in its letter of intent, as Quantum Observer reported in September, but it did not disclose the final price in its 8-K.
Commerce also gave up most of its votes and generally cannot vote its D-Wave shares at stockholder meetings. Rigetti and Quantinuum reported that the department will not vote their shares except on a few matters, such as a merger in Rigetti’s case.
All three companies disclosed conditions on where funded inventions are made. Quantinuum reported that inventions from its project must be “predominantly produced or licensed for production in the United States, subject to certain limited exceptions,” during the project and for 10 years after it. D-Wave and Rigetti described provisions on “domestic control and production,” with Rigetti’s covering “U.S.-ownership and manufacturing requirements.” Quantum Observer has traced how governments use such terms alongside equity stakes and export controls to secure quantum technology.
Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantinuum reported that their performance periods end when they complete their milestones or on September 4, 2031, whichever comes first, and D-Wave said its period can be extended.
Commerce aimed the money at manufacturing problems, naming readout electronics and cryostat architectures for Rigetti and integrated photonics for Quantinuum in its May notice. It described GlobalFoundries’ award as research toward a “secure, domestic quantum foundry” in its September notice. Quantum Observer has mapped where U.S. quantum computer makers buy refrigerators and other parts from allies.
A template from Intel
The quantum terms follow a pattern that Commerce set with Intel in August 2025. Intel said the government would invest $8.9 billion in 433.3 million Intel shares at $20.47 each, a 9.9% stake at the time, using $5.7 billion in CHIPS grants awarded but not yet paid and $3.2 billion from the Secure Enclave program. Intel described the stake as “passive ownership, with no Board representation or other governance or information rights.”
Under the August 2025 agreement, Commerce was to receive 433.3 million Intel shares. In its third-quarter report, Intel said 132 million of them remained in escrow on September 26, to be released as it receives Secure Enclave payments, and that it had 5,315 million shares outstanding on October 23.
Commerce’s CHIPS Research and Development Office has since sought equity in other awards. On June 17, Commerce announced a definitive agreement with SandboxAQ for $500 million to develop an AI-driven materials discovery platform. Eight days later it announced one with I-Pulse for $250 million of research on silicon carbide power semiconductors. Under both, Commerce receives “a minority, non-controlling equity stake.”
On July 29, Commerce signed letters of intent with seven companies for $874 million, including up to $300 million for GlobalFoundries, each with “a minority, non-controlling equity stake” for the department. On October 22, it signed four more for up to $389 million with Helion, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Vertical Semiconductor, and Sibelco. The department set “a minority, non-controlling and non-voting equity stake in each company as a condition for making the awards.”
In December 2025, Commerce signed a letter of intent with xLight, a startup working on extreme ultraviolet lithography, for up to $150 million. Under the letter, “The Department of Commerce would receive $150 million of equity in xLight.” Neither Commerce nor xLight mentioned equity when they announced the final $150 million award on June 2.
Commerce has now sought equity in research awards well beyond quantum computing, from lithography and photonics to power semiconductors and quartz purification.
DOE’s pools for logical qubits
Through its Quantum Genesis Q Competition, DOE pays small sums until a company proves a machine. DOE plans up to $215 million, of which $2.5 million is fiscal 2026 money, with funding for later years contingent on congressional appropriations. In the first phase, each selected company can receive fixed milestone awards of up to $1.5 million.
DOE put most of the money in the second phase. According to its request for applications, DOE will split a $100 million pool evenly among companies that demonstrate a first-generation machine with at least 100 logical qubits, and two $50 million bonus pools among those that reach 150 and 200. A logical qubit is an error-protected unit of quantum information spread across many physical qubits, the individual qubits in the hardware.
DOE anticipates the final evaluation in September 2028, as Quantum Observer reported when the competition opened. DOE does not ask for equity in its request for applications. Before 2028, its exposure is limited to the first-phase awards, and it pays the pools only after a final evaluation of each machine.
DARPA and the Pentagon pay for verification
DARPA lists maximum QBI awards of $1 million per company in Stage A, $15 million in Stage B, and $300 million in Stage C. In Stage C, each company works with a government team to verify that its proposed utility-scale computer can be built and operated as designed.
As of October 8, DARPA listed Atom Computing, Diraq, IBM, IonQ, Microsoft, and PsiQuantum in Stage C. Of the four that entered in October, only Diraq disclosed its initial funding, a $51 million tranche for its first year. IonQ said that “funding beyond the initial obligation remains subject to future appropriations and DARPA funding actions.”
On October 8, the Department of War announced about $350 million in quantum computing initiatives. About $200 million was new funding for QBI, and the remainder was a conditional commitment from the department’s Office of Strategic Capital to lend PsiQuantum about $150 million, as Quantum Observer reported at the time. PsiQuantum said the loan “remains strictly conditional and is not guaranteed.”
PsiQuantum now has federal awards from two departments, a final CHIPS award of up to $100 million and DARPA agreements worth at least $125 million. It signed the largest of those DARPA agreements, for $125 million, in July.
The conditional loan commitment of up to $150 million is separate from those awards. Quantum Observer has examined how quantum spin-offs, PsiQuantum among them, pair public money with private capital.
Shareholder, regulator, and evaluator
With these stakes, Washington holds several roles in the same companies. Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security has required licenses since September 2024 to export several quantum items, from large dilution refrigerators to cryogenic electronics. The department that licenses those exports now owns shares in D-Wave, Rigetti, Quantinuum, and GlobalFoundries and part of IBM’s Anderon. Through other CHIPS deals, it also owns or will receive equity in Intel, I-Pulse, and SandboxAQ.
DARPA, part of the Department of War, evaluates designs from two of those companies. It lists Quantinuum among its Stage B companies and IBM among its Stage C companies.
Commerce has also tied public money to share prices. As a D-Wave shareholder, the department gains when D-Wave’s stock rises and loses when it falls. On September 14, GlobalFoundries registered the department’s 9,907,399 shares for resale, so Commerce can sell them on the market.
D-Wave also warned its investors of a legal risk. The company wrote that the government “could determine in the future that all or a portion of the transactions were unauthorized, void or voidable.”
In Rigetti’s case, the department that owns the shares also decides “in its sole discretion” whether the company has met each milestone.
Investors have learned about the stakes piecemeal. Neither Commerce nor IBM mentioned equity when they announced Anderon’s final award in September. IBM disclosed the department’s stake in its quarterly report on October 22. PsiQuantum, which is private, has not said whether Commerce took shares in it.
The case for buying in
Commerce has made its own case, saying the stakes would “enhance the return for the U.S. taxpayer.” With Intel, it has taken a large stake on terms that Intel called passive.
Grant funding has continued alongside the new instruments, including DOE’s renewal of its research centers in November 2025. In May 2026, NSF committed $1.5 billion over the next decade to its X-Labs initiative and named quantum interconnects and integrated photonics as one of its first two topics. On this reading, Washington has added an investor’s tools to a grant system that still exists.
DOE and Commerce have also limited what taxpayers lose if a project fails. DOE reserves its pools for demonstrated machines, and Commerce can withhold installments.
Of the two, DOE gives taxpayers the clearer protection. Commerce has not published its milestone criteria. D-Wave wrote that its milestones “relate generally to the installation of tools and equipment,” and it listed “fabrication of quantum processing unit prototypes,” “process integration,” and “the calibration and benchmarking of scaled quantum processing units.” It did not say what results a milestone requires.
Commerce remains both shareholder and export licensor whatever the stakes return.
What would confirm or overturn this reading
DOE planned to name its first Q Competition selections no earlier than November 13 and had named none by that date. Commerce has yet to announce final awards for Atom Computing, Infleqtion, and Diraq. When it does, the department will show whether it keeps equity in every quantum award or drops it from any of them.
Under Executive Order 14413, signed on June 22, the White House owes an updated National Quantum Strategy within 180 days, by December 19, 2026. In that strategy, the White House can say whether it treats equity as standing policy for quantum funding.
Washington will not know for years whether the stakes and pools pay off. DOE anticipates its final evaluation of the competing machines in September 2028. Commerce’s agreements with Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantinuum can run until September 4, 2031.
This reading would be narrowed if Commerce closed its remaining quantum awards without equity, or if Washington put its next large quantum commitments into open research grants with no milestones attached. The stakes Commerce already holds would remain.
