A Commerce Department official told CNBC that the U.S. government is not negotiating to acquire stakes in quantum computing companies in exchange for federal funding.
“The Department of Commerce is not currently negotiating stock ownership with quantum computing companies,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The denial comes after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration is in talks with companies including AeonQ, Righetti Computing and DWave Quantum, citing people familiar with the matter.
During trading on Thursday, Righetti It was up 7%, but ion Q It was up 7%, but D-wave Increased by 13%. quantum computing It was up 5%.
The Trump administration has recently acquired stakes in companies and industries deemed essential to U.S. national security.
In August, it acquired 10% of the company’s shares. intelone of Japan’s leading semiconductor manufacturers. The company also acquired a 15% stake. MP materialmine rare earth elements. China has restricted exports of rare earths.
Experts say the U.S. government’s increasing interest in acquiring stakes in private companies is unprecedented in decades.
Trump administration officials, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, have argued that the government should profit from companies’ successes, especially when federal funds are involved.
Quantum computing has received a lot of attention in recent years, with some of the world’s most powerful institutions spending millions of dollars in the race to develop and build the first useful, practical quantum computer, which, according to optimistic predictions, could be completed within the next five years.
A useful quantum computer would be able to perform tasks that require more computational time than traditional computers can perform, such as discovering molecules that become useful drugs or factoring large numbers.
At the moment, there is nothing quantum computers can do. The machine is purely for research purposes.
But governments are watching the technology closely because of its military implications, including the possibility of decoding encrypted military communications.
The industry has attracted billions of dollars in investment, including from the federal government, but has yet to generate significant revenue.
Quantum computing companies had revenue of less than $750 million in 2024, according to a McKinsey report.
On Wednesday, Google conducted research showing that quantum computers can run algorithms more than 13,000 times faster than traditional computers and can be verified with a second quantum computer, billing it as a quantum breakthrough. This exceeds previous research.
