Posted on 10/22/2025 9:20:03 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is in talks with several quantum-computing companies to take equity stakes in exchange for federal funding, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Companies including IonQ (IONQ.N), Rigetti Computing (RGTI.O), and D-Wave Quantum (QBTS.N), are discussing the government becoming a shareholder as part of the agreements, the report said, adding that the discussions include minimum funding awards from Washington of $10 million each.
Other companies such as Quantum Computing (QUBT.O), and Atom Computing are considering similar arrangements, the Journal added.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Earlier this year, Trump said the U.S. would take a 10% stake in Intel that converts government grants into an equity share, the latest extraordinary intervention by the White House in corporate America.
Other deals include an agreement for the Pentagon to become the largest shareholder in a small mining company, MP Materials (MP.N), to boost output of rare earth magnets and the U.S. government's winning a "golden share" with certain veto rights as part of a deal to allow Japan's Nippon Steel (5401.T), to buy U.S. Steel.
Ion declined to comment while the White House, U.S. Commerce Department, Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Quantum, Atom Computing and Quantum Computing did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
U.S. Deputy Commerce Secretary Paul Dabbar, a former quantum-computing executive and Energy Department official, is leading the funding discussions with companies in the industry, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
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Much smarter to take an equity position than to just hand out free money in the form of DARPA, NSF, etc grants.
Is there an economic system where government owns the means o production? Have Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump done one of those Freaky Friday switches?
I’m not crazy about Trump doing this.
Government would then obviously favor the companies it “invested” in.
It is a benefit to the taxpayer who gives these grants and should get something in return. When the equity gets valuable it can pay back the grant or pay off govt debt.
These grants enrich their shareholders
On the backs of taxpayers. Time to change.
All those companies are jumping in the overnight market - IONQ is up 17%!
I’m not crazy about Trump doing this.
Government would then obviously favor the companies it “invested” in.
I’m not either. It grows government/power where we don’t want it. Leftists would love this to manipulate once they’re back in power.
Sorry to say, but “quantum computing” is mostly bullshit. VC clickbait that does not work.
I’m not crazy about this. If a company cannot stand on its own, so be it...it closes. No grants, no subsidies and no government loans.
Me neither. I love Trump like a fat girl loves candy but the government has no place taking ownership positions in business. Talk about ripe for corruption! 🤔
Yup.
We’re living a nightmare. I thought we dodged a Bernie bullet a decade ago.
Now, it feels like a scene out of a movie where you think the bullet missed but oh, look... suddenly this red spot starts growing.
The more important question is do quantum computing companies NEED government funding???
Or are we just trying to run the economy the way the CCP does, with the national executive picking and choosing which companies to fund in a national mercantilist manner?
There were some innovations in the last two days that caused Elon musk to say “it looks like quantum computing is about to get real. “ fwiw
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