Every day brings a fresh reminder that interest in quantum computing has reached a fever pitch, and nowhere is that more obvious than at the federal level.
Deputy Secretary of Commerce Paul Dabbar asserted this week that recent actions by the U.S. government "have accelerated reaching for the frontier of this technology materially faster."
The remarks followed a White House quantum summit on July 7, where Dabbar was joined by representatives from the Energy Department and the National Science Foundation. Industry leaders like IBM's Jay Gambetta and Infleqtion CEO Matt Kinsella were also in attendance, underscoring their growing role as key federal collaborators.
"The arc of the last decade, and the shape of the decade ahead, is this: America built every layer of the quantum stack one at a time, across a century, largely without knowing it was building a stack," Dabbar wrote in a LinkedIn post Thursday. That includes the s0-called discovery layer, which Dabbar says was "built by physicists who were asking questions that had no commercial application."
While broad commercialization is still several years away, quantum companies are already generating revenue by selling physical systems and cloud-based compute to enterprise customers. Still, these early deployments are modest relative to the scale investors might expect. Finland's IQM Quantum Computers leads the market in on-premises, gate-based system sales with just 23 sold.
To be clear, everyday consumers won't ever need a quantum computer. There is simply no utility for them at the individual level. Instead, these powerful machines will function behind the scenes, harnessing quantum physics to work alongside supercomputers and the processors in AI data centers -- an integration that is already beginning to happen.
A quantum system is suited for a very specific type of customer: those looking to optimize supply chains, process massive data sets, and -- where the technology shows the most promise -- model novel molecules. This could drastically accelerate drug discovery and production, translating directly into better outcomes for patients.
While commercialization is important for investors, another critical use case is taking center stage: national defense. Beyond simply wanting to lead the global quantum market, the U.S. government is acutely aware that the advent of more powerful machines threatens the encryption safeguarding much of the world's data.
Tuesday's conversations took place behind closed doors, and the exact details remain privileged. While attendees are barred from attributing specific comments, a few overarching themes have emerged.
First was the explicit acknowledgment that quantum has become a top national security priority. This focus has only intensified as China deepens its longtime ties to the sector, identifying quantum computing as one of seven "future industries" in its latest Five-Year Plan.
This provides the clear subtext for the government's interest in the technology, only underscored by the types of companies it partners with. Infleqtion, for instance, secured multiple government contracts well before its public trading debut in February, establishing itself as a key player in quantum sensing. This technology and its applications in national security were discussed at the summit.
And then there's IBM. It was no surprise to see Gambetta at the event, where he was seated next to Brad Blakestad, the director of the National Quantum Coordination Office. He may not hold IBM's top role, but Gambetta oversees the company's quantum effort, and was elevated to oversee IBM's entire research division late last year.
Gambetta was also present in the Oval Office when President Donald Trump signed executive orders supporting the technology last month. Those directives were a clear sign "the government is taking a stand," Gambetta told Barron's in a recent interview. "I think it's the government's role to get expert advice across academia and the private and public sectors."
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna himself echoed this sentiment during a Tech Week panel last month, saying the federal backing of IBM's quantum effort was "a sign that they did their homework and agreed it is now time to scale this as an industry."
Big Blue captured the lion's share of a $2 billion federal funding package in May. The Commerce Department is directing $1 billion to IBM to support the construction of "Anderon," a stand-alone quantum foundry.
Efforts to strengthen the domestic supply chain were also in focus at the summit. The government is not only investing in the development of larger, more powerful systems, but ensuring they can be produced at scale.
Consequently, funding is flowing not only to IBM, but to GlobalFoundries as well. The chip maker is set to receive $375 million to launch a business unit centered on domestic manufacturing for utility-scale quantum computing.
Other companies have tentatively agreed to exchange equity stakes in their businesses in exchange for capital. This includes smaller players like D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, and newly public Infleqtion.
Kinsella has also been outspoken about the need to accelerate quantum development for the country's sake.
"China was definitely ahead of the U.S. in officially deeming this as of utmost importance," he said in an interview with Barron's. "They have invested more into stimulating the quantum ecosystem in China, while the U.S. has thus far relied mainly on the capital markets system here to fuel the quantum investment."
While this has been the "winning strategy" for the U.S. so far, Kinsella welcomes the increased federal interest.
"We have now seen the U.S. government label quantum technology as one of its top three national security priorities," he said. "We're seeing a lot more from the U.S. government, and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw even more."
Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 10, 2026 17:44 ET (21:44 GMT)
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