WASHINGTON - The Department of Defense (DoD) is launching approximately $350 million in quantum-computing initiatives intended to identify national-security applications, validate prospective utility-scale quantum computers, and strengthen the U.S. quantum-computing industrial base.
The initiatives announced by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering include approximately $200 million in new funding associated with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI) and an approximately $150 million conditional loan commitment from the DoD's Office of Strategic Capital to quantum-computing developer PsiQuantum.
DARPA advanced four additional quantum-computing companies to Stage C of QBI, the initiative's final evaluation phase. The companies are Atom Computing, which is developing scalable arrays of neutral atoms; Diraq, which is developing silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) spin qubits; IBM, which is developing modular superconducting quantum processors; and IonQ, which is developing trapped-ion quantum computers.
QBI aims to determine whether a quantum-computing approach can achieve utility-scale operation by 2033, with DARPA defining utility as computational value that exceeds the system's cost. Stage C moves the program from evaluating research and development plans to government verification and validation of the hardware and systems. DARPA will work with the companies to determine whether their proposed utility-scale systems can be constructed as designed and operated as intended.
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Quantum computing efforts
The four companies join Microsoft and PsiQuantum, which previously advanced to Stage C through the Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing pilot program that preceded QBI. Since its launch in 2024, DARPA says QBI has evaluated more than 20 companies pursuing different quantum-computing approaches. The initiative is not intended to select a single winning technology, but rather to assess the technical viability of multiple approaches to utility-scale quantum computing.
The DoD also plans to identify mission-relevant quantum computing applications in chemistry, materials science, and physics. DARPA, working with the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the Laboratory for Physical Sciences, will host application workshops beginning before January 2027. The workshops will bring military end users and quantum-algorithm experts together to identify high-value applications and accelerate development of quantum-computing capabilities with potential national-security utility.
Separately, the Office of Strategic Capital announced an approximately $150 million conditional loan commitment to PsiQuantum to expand its advanced manufacturing and prototyping capabilities in the United States. The proposed financing would support equipment and infrastructure for fabricating and validating components and assemblies, system integration and testing, and advanced cryogenic systems at PsiQuantum's 140,000-square-foot facility in Milpitas, Calif. The commitment remains conditional on the company meeting financial, legal, technical, and regulatory requirements.
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Together, the initiatives link quantum-computing hardware development with system-level verification, application development, and domestic manufacturing as the DoD evaluates potential uses of quantum computing for future national-security missions.
