The U.S. Just Bet $1 Billion on Quantum Chip Manufacturing

The U.S. Department of Commerce has finalized a CHIPS and Science Act R&D award of up to $1 billion for Anderon, a quantum foundry IBM established earlier this year. The 16 September announcement backs a manufacturing service for IBM and other quantum-hardware developers. IBM is matching the award with US $1 billion in cash and contributing intellectual property, assets, and skilled workers. Headquartered in Albany, N.Y., Anderon builds on an existing operation at Albany NanoTech, where IBM has made quantum wafers for more than five years, says CEO Mukesh Khare . That existing infrastructure has helped Anderon get started: Its first wafers are already moving through a production-scale, 300-millimeter line. Quantum computing “is moving from science to real commercial impact now,” Khare says