The U.S. government is betting $2 Billion on quantum computing, and the defense side can't keep up
Key takeaways
- They represent industrial policy for manufacturing scale, and an investment in long-term equity outcomes where the government hopes to turn a profit.
- When a country builds purpose-built fabrication facilities for a technology, it is no longer asking whether that technology works.
- To defend against a CRQC, we need post-quantum cryptography.
These are not simply research grants. They represent industrial policy for manufacturing scale, and an investment in long-term equity outcomes where the government hopes to turn a profit. IBM is getting $1B to stand up a quantum-grade superconducting wafer foundry. GlobalFoundries is getting $375M for a multi-architecture fab. The remaining $636M is split across seven companies actually building quantum computers, across superconducting, trapped ion, photonic and neutral-atom modalities.
When a country builds purpose-built fabrication facilities for a technology, it is no longer asking whether that technology works. It is asking how fast it can scale. The Commerce Department believes quantum to be beyond the experimental, “maybe one day” phase, and wants to win the race to a cryptographically relevant quantum computer (CRQC) before its adversaries. Being able to break widely used cryptography is a very powerful advantage that every government would love to have.
To defend against a CRQC, we need post-quantum cryptography. The defense side has no comparable backer.