Quantum stocks soar on report that Trump administration is discussing equity stakes in companies

Quantum computing stocks soared Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported that multiple companies are in talks for the US government to take equity stakes in exchange for federal funding.

IonQ (IONQ), Rigetti Computing (RGTI), D-Wave (QBTS), and Quantum Computing (QUBT) shares soared as they were named among the companies included in the discussions.

IonQ, the first pure-play quantum firm to go public, saw its stock climb 9% at the market open, while Rigetti and D-Wave jumped 11% and 18%, respectively. Quantum Computing shares rose nearly 10%.

Read more about quantum stock moves and today’s market action.

The companies would be awarded a minimum of $10 million from the Chips Research and Development Office as part of the investments from the Commerce Department, the Journal reported. The potential investments are part of a recent, highly unusual trend in which the US government inserts itself in the corporate realm by taking big stakes in US firms such as Intel (INTC) and MP Materials (MP).

This isn’t the first time the government has taken an interest in quantum computing. In 2018, President Trump signed into law the National Quantum Initiative Act, pledging $1.2 billion in federal funding for quantum research. Under Biden, the CHIPS and Science Act authorized funding for a handful of federal quantum computing programs. During the second Trump administration, a group of bipartisan US senators also introduced a bill that would reauthorize the 2018 law and pledged an additional $2.7 billion for research to develop practical quantum computing applications.

Trump administration takes stakes in critical sectors

Stakes acquired:

• Trilogy Metals (TMQ): 10%, plus warrants for an additional 7.5%

• Lithium Americas (LAC): 5%, plus 5% in a joint venture with General Motors

• MP Materials (MP): 15%

• Intel Corp (INTC): 9.9%

• Critical Metals (CRML): 8% (in discussions)

In September, Rigetti was awarded a $5.8 million contract with the US Air Force, and the Department of Energy unveiled a collaboration with IonQ.

The new discussions of the US government’s equity investments would be part of the Trump administration’s overhaul of the Biden administration’s CHIPS Act commitments, according to the Journal.

Once developed, useful quantum computers would solve problems that would take normal, or “classical,” computers billions of years. But quantum computers are fragile and plagued by errors that have set back the industry in developing practical use cases for the tech.

Quantum stocks have soared over the past year as big names such as Google (GOOG) and IBM (IBM) unveiled technological breakthroughs in their quantum chips and computers that fueled investor hopes for the burgeoning market, which Bank of America (BAC) estimates will surge to $4 billion in 2030 from just $300 million in 2024.

Shares in quantum firms, including IonQ, Rigetti Computing, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing, hit record highs in mid-October as JPMorgan (JPM) unveiled a $1.5 trillion 10-year initiative to invest in industries critical to national security, including quantum computing.

But the stocks have reversed gains in the last two weeks, with significant drops on Wednesday alone. IonQ and Rigetti Computing fell roughly 7% and 10% Wednesday, respectively, while D-Wave sank 15% and Quantum Computing dropped 7%. The stocks’ gains early Thursday reversed those losses.

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