The Trump administration has poured cold water on reports that it is “currently” negotiating to acquire stakes in quantum computing companies, including: ion Q, righetti computing, and D Wave Quantumbut each company’s stock price was still comfortably high on Thursday.
“The Department of Commerce is not currently negotiating stock ownership with quantum computing companies,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
This short statement still leaves room for investors to be optimistic about the possibility of some kind of deal with Quantum Name.
“Now” may suggest that negotiations will take place later, and “fairness” may suggest a different structure in any type of deal. Warrants give the government the right to buy stock at a set price in the future, rather than current ownership.
“We continue to work with the U.S. government on funding opportunities,” Righetti said in a statement. “If the United States does not lead the way in supporting these breakthroughs, other countries will do so, posing significant national security risks.”
IonQ and Quantum Computing declined to comment.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that each quantum company is in talks for at least $10 million in funding in exchange for government ownership.
Federal funding for quantum would be a big departure from the August agreement with Intel, a move that essentially bailed out traditional chipmakers.
Intel had revenue of $53 billion in 2024, but was losing market share. The government converted about $9 billion in grants into a 10% stake, making it Intel’s largest shareholder.
Governments around the world see quantum as the next big thing, and the United States sees it as critical to staying ahead of China in next-generation computing.
However, this technology is not yet commercially viable.
Quantum companies have minimal revenue and are spending cash to build technology that doesn’t yet work at scale. With hyperscalers already making strides, any federal funding would come with considerable risk.
google, IBM, microsoft and Amazon It already has a major quantum program. Google just announced that its Willow chip runs an algorithm 13,000 times faster than a supercomputer.
