Department of War Announces $350 Million in Quantum-Computing Initiatives

The Department of War announced approximately $350 million in quantum-computing initiatives Oct. 8, combining new funding for four companies with a conditional loan commitment for PsiQuantum to support national-security applications and the U.S. quantum industry.

Approximately $200 million in new funding is associated with Atom Computing, Diraq, IBM and IonQ after the companies advanced to Stage C of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. Stage C will assess whether the teams’ proposed systems can be constructed and run as planned.

The initiative is evaluating whether a quantum-computing approach can reach utility-scale operation by 2033. DARPA’s benchmark requires the system’s practical computing benefits to outweigh its expense.

“Stage C is where we begin moving from plans to proof,” Micah Stoutimore, managing director of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, said.

The initiative has evaluated more than 20 organizations since launching in mid-2024. Microsoft and PsiQuantum were also active Stage C participants as of Oct. 8 after entering through a predecessor program.

The Office of Strategic Capital separately announced an approximately $150 million conditional loan commitment for PsiQuantum’s advanced manufacturing and prototyping capabilities in the United States. The commitment is conditional and does not represent confirmed completed funding.

DARPA will coordinate application workshops with the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Laboratory for Physical Sciences. The workshops are scheduled to begin before January 2027 and will connect end users with quantum-algorithm experts to identify potential national-defense applications.

The Department of War said those applications could involve chemistry, materials science and physics, including future weapons, platforms and other defense capabilities.

“Dominance in quantum information science is a critical priority for both President Trump and the Department of War,” Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, said.

Quantum machines could eventually outperform conventional computers on some tasks by exploiting quantum behavior.

“We increasingly expect that someone will build a utility-scale quantum computer by 2033,” Stoutimore said.