You’re Probably Looking at the Wrong Quantum Computing Stocks
On May 21, the U.S. Department of Commerce signed letters of intent with nine quantum companies for $2.013 billion, taking equity stakes, and the next day France committed €1 billion to its quantum strategy. The funding emphasizes quantum foundries: $1 billion to IBM and $375 million to GlobalFoundries; $638 million split among seven hardware firms.
Direct US government equity-backed quantum foundry funding plus IBM’s $1B match strengthens the “infrastructure wins” thesis for IBM.
Article says Commerce signed a $1B equity-backed quantum funding deal with IBM and IBM will match with a $1B Anderon foundry subsidiary.
Near-term positive bias; magnitude depends on how investors price the foundry timeline and architecture risk.
Background
Commerce signed letters of intent with nine quantum companies totaling $2.013B, taking equity stakes; France also announced a €1B quantum commitment the next day.
Why it matters
The piece frames the funding as a CHIPS-like playbook: the largest checks go to quantum foundries (IBM, GlobalFoundries), while smaller checks seed multiple hardware approaches. It highlights that the investment accelerates R&D rather than solving fault-tolerance physics.
Market relevance
A state-backed quantum funding portfolio is positioned as a near-term catalyst for liquid quantum-related equities, with emphasis on foundry/infrastructure exposure.
Market effects
Reinforces “foundry/fabrication layer” as the preferred quantum exposure, potentially shifting flows from pure-play hardware to manufacturing/ecosystem names.
US policy emphasis plus France’s parallel commitment frames quantum as a strategic industrial race, supporting Western quantum capex narratives.
US/EU state-backed funding may accelerate competition and reduce perceived execution risk for domestic quantum supply chains.
Alternative perspectives
The article argues foundries win, but it also admits the core physics (coherence/fault tolerance) isn’t solved—so equity-funded R&D may not translate into near-term stock fundamentals.
Investors may overprice “iteration velocity” without clear milestones; architecture uncertainty and cryogenic/material supply constraints could delay commercialization and dilute the impact of funding announcements.
Key entities
- personHoward Lutnick
Commerce Secretary who characterized the quantum funding as a new era of American innovation.
- companyIBM
Receives $1B in the Commerce package and plans a dedicated quantum wafer fabrication facility via Anderon.
- companyGlobalFoundries
Receives $375M to build a multi-modality quantum foundry across five hardware approaches.
- companyD-Wave
Receives $100M to advance its proprietary quantum hardware and error correction.
- companyRigetti
Receives $100M to advance proprietary hardware and error correction.
