Key facts
- The Trump administration announced over $6 billion in science initiatives.
- A $215 million quantum computing competition aims to develop fault-tolerant systems.
- Eleven technology companies pledged $2.4 billion in AI tools and compute credits.
- Nvidia committed $1 billion to AI initiatives, AMD pledged $500 million, and OpenAI and Anthropic each committed $200 million.
- Advances in quantum computing could threaten cryptographic systems used in blockchain and financial transactions.
- No quantum computer capable of breaking current cryptographic systems currently exists.
The Trump administration has announced over $6 billion in science initiatives, including a $215 million quantum computing competition and $2.4 billion in industry commitments for artificial intelligence tools and computing resources. On Thursday, the Department of Energy identified eight scientific applications to guide its Quantum Genesis Q Competition, which offers up to $215 million in planned funding to companies developing fault-tolerant quantum computers. First announced in September, the funding includes milestone-based awards and incentive prizes for companies that demonstrate increasingly powerful quantum systems. The research priorities span chemistry, materials science, subatomic physics and applied mathematics.
Advances in fault-tolerant quantum computing could have implications for blockchain-based assets that rely on public-key cryptography. On Sept. 23, three EU financial watchdogs warned that the development of more powerful quantum computers could undermine cryptographic systems used to secure blockchains and financial transactions. For these crypto assets, sufficiently powerful quantum computers could potentially derive private keys from exposed public keys, allowing attackers to steal funds. However, no quantum computer capable of carrying out such attacks currently exists.
The White House also announced that 11 technology companies pledged $2.4 billion in AI tools and compute credits to support research at 15 federal agencies. Commitments include $1 billion from Nvidia, $500 million from AMD, $200 million from OpenAI and $150 million each from Anthropic and Google.