Three major publicly traded quantum computing companies are seeing significant stock price gains after securing landmark funding agreements with the federal government.
Rigetti Computing (Nasdaq: RGTI), D-Wave Quantum (Nasdaq: QBTS), and Quantinuum (Nasdaq: QNT) each finalized agreements with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s CHIPS Research and Development Office for $100 million apiece.
The funding is distributed through a broader $2 billion government initiative targeting the quantum computing sector and its most pressing development challenges.
In exchange for the capital infusion, the U.S. government will receive a minority, non-controlling equity stake in each of the three companies.
The initiative is designed to tackle some of quantum computing’s most persistent obstacles, including scaling, reliability, manufacturing, and supply-chain development.
RGTI stock rallied as much as 7% on the news, while QBTS shares rose over 4% in pre-market trading, outpacing the broader market.
QNT shares gained approximately 2.6%, a more modest but still notable move that similarly outperformed broader equity market benchmarks on the day.
Rigetti’s agreement with the Commerce Department specifically allocates its $100 million under the CHIPS Act to accelerate superconducting quantum research and development across three defined projects.
Those three projects include miniaturized readout electronics, a new cryostat architecture to expand cryogenic capacity, and fabrication for high-connectivity chip architectures.
Despite the strong single-session performance, both RGTI and QBTS remain deeply negative on a year-to-date basis, down 26% and 33% respectively heading into the announcement.
Investors are also being asked to weigh the dilution risk that comes with the government receiving equity stakes, a factor that could pressure share prices further over time.
The CHIPS Act has become one of the primary vehicles through which the federal government is channeling investment into strategically important technology sectors, including semiconductors and now quantum computing.
Government backing at this scale signals a meaningful shift in how Washington views quantum computing as a national priority, potentially unlocking further institutional investor interest in the sector.
