WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of War is directing approximately $350 million toward quantum computing development, including $200 million to validate prospective commercial systems and a $150 million conditional loan commitment to PsiQuantum, as the federal government seeks to establish a domestic industrial base for technology with potential military applications.
The funding combines investments through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the department’s Office of Strategic Capital, linking technical evaluations of quantum computers with financing for U.S. manufacturing and prototyping capacity.
DARPA is advancing four prospective quantum computing providers to Stage C of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, committing approximately $200 million in new funding.
The investment builds on more than $650 million DARPA has already directed toward prospective quantum computing providers.
During Stage C, participants will work with DARPA to verify whether their proposed utility-scale quantum computers can be built according to their designs and operate as intended.
The companies advancing to this stage have demonstrated research and development plans for constructing utility-scale systems, identified significant technical risks and established prototype requirements intended to address those risks, according to the department.
The evaluations are designed to distinguish technically feasible computing architectures from concepts that have yet to demonstrate a credible path toward practical deployment.
Separately, the Office of Strategic Capital has made an approximately $150 million conditional loan commitment to PsiQuantum to support advanced manufacturing and prototyping operations in the United States.
The financing is intended to strengthen domestic production capabilities as quantum computing developers work toward systems capable of performing calculations with practical scientific and industrial value.
The department is also expanding efforts to identify military applications for quantum computing, particularly in chemistry, materials science and physics.
Those fields could support the development of military platforms, weapons systems and manufacturing processes as sufficiently capable quantum computers become available.
Emil Michael, under secretary for research and engineering, said maintaining U.S. leadership in quantum information science is a national security priority.
“R&E is uniquely positioned to drive the innovation needed across academia and industry,” Michael said.
The department’s strategy follows Executive Order 14413, which established quantum information science as a national priority, and recommendations in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Science: A New Golden Age report.
DARPA will also coordinate with the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Laboratory for Physical Sciences to organize workshops identifying potential applications for quantum computing.
The workshops, scheduled to begin before January 2027, will bring together prospective users and quantum algorithm specialists to assess where the technology could deliver meaningful computational advantages.
The effort will complement the Energy Department’s Quantum Genesis Priority Applications and Quantum Genesis Q Competition, along with related initiatives at the National Science Foundation and NASA.
The combined investments reflect a dual approach to federal quantum development: evaluating whether commercial systems can achieve utility at scale while financing the domestic manufacturing capabilities needed to produce them.
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