Key facts
- The Pentagon launched a $350 million initiative to advance US quantum computing capabilities.
- The initiative aims to maintain American leadership in quantum information science and support national security.
- A $150 million conditional loan commitment was made to PsiQuantum for its manufacturing hub.
- DARPA allocated approximately $200 million in new Stage C funding for its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative.
- The initiative builds on existing programs and complements efforts by the Department of Energy, NSF, and NASA.
The Pentagon has launched a significant quantum computing initiative, committing approximately $350 million to bolster US capabilities amid intensifying technological competition with China. The initiative, announced by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, aims to secure American leadership in quantum information science and its application to national security.
A key component of this investment is a conditional loan commitment of up to $150 million from the Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) to PsiQuantum, a photonic hardware developer. This funding is earmarked for expanding PsiQuantum's advanced manufacturing, testing, and system integration facility in Milpitas, California, to support domestic supply chain capacity for utility-scale quantum computing.
Additionally, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is allocating about $200 million in new Stage C funding for its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. This program seeks to validate prospective quantum computing systems and determine if their computational value can exceed their cost. Four organizations have advanced to this final stage.
The broader initiative builds upon existing Department of War programs and complements national efforts by the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and NASA. DARPA will also host application workshops to identify mission-relevant uses for quantum computing, particularly as capable quantum computers become available, with the goal of developing next-generation weapons and critical capabilities.