Both firms have signed letters of intent with the U.S. Commerce Department for up to US$100 million in funding each, to help pay for research and development of their quantum computing technology. The US$2-billion federal program will back nine firms in total, with US$1 billion of it going to IBM to build a quantum-chip factory. (The Logic)

Talking point: Washington is betting big on quantum computing, which could have significant economic, strategic and security implications. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is effectively running a bakeoff, challenging developers—including three Canadian firms—to make their machines commercially useful by 2033. D-Wave, now headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla., went public in August 2022 via a merger with a blank-cheque company run by Emil Michael, the Pentagon’s current chief deal maker. Its stock jumped as much as 28.9 per cent Thursday on the funding news, while Rigetti’s rose as much as 28.4 per cent. The U.S. supply chains could stretch north—Canada has awarded IBM over $250 million to expand a Bromont, Que. chip packaging facility and develop manufacturing processes for quantum computing.