Quantum News Nexus

The $2 billion in federal grants for quantum companies that were reported Thursday lit a fire under quantum stocks.

Here’s quick look at how those who worked out agreements with the US Department of Commerce did:

IBM (IBM) closed up more than 12.5%

D-Wave (QBTS) was up more than 31%

Infleqtion (INFQ)jumped about 31%

Rigetti Computing (RGTI) increased more than 29%

GlobalFoundries (GFS) moved higher by almost 15%

Even IonQ (IONQ) soared by more than 12% despite not being listed among the initial round of grants. The remaining four companies that are in line to receive the grants in exchange for government stakes in their firms–Atom Computing, Quantinuum, PsiQuantum, and Diraq–are not publicly traded, though Quantinuum is preparing for an IPO.

Dr. Krist Naudts, founder and managing partner of London-based venture capital firm Girgun Ventures, had this to say about the big day: “The quantum industry’s scientific and engineering progress has earned this. Hardware and software roadmaps are progressing, error rates are falling, and the leading platforms are converging on credible paths to useful quantum advantage. Markets responded immediately [Thursday morning after The Wall Street Journal broke the news] with shares across the named firms climbing 7% to 21% in premarket trading. A federal package of this size, structured this way, is one of the clearest signals yet that quantum is becoming a strategic asset for the US.”