Commerce Department Offers $2 Billion for 9 Quantum Stakes as Trump Expands State Ownership
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 12
Commerce Department Offers $2 Billion for 9 Quantum Stakes as Trump Expands State Ownership
1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 12
Summary
More than $2 billion in May letters of intent would give the Commerce Department minority stakes in nine quantum-computing companies, extending the administration’s use of equity deals to shore up strategic supply chains.
Those investments build on Trump’s remaking of the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, shifting some Biden-era grant programs toward direct government ownership in sectors tied to semiconductors, rare earths, nuclear power and rocket motors.
About $60 billion in nearly two dozen deals has already been announced, including a 15% MP Materials stake and a 10% Intel stake; one estimate says taxpayers could hold pieces of as many as 200 companies by 2029.
The expansion jars with Trump’s attacks on Democrats as quasi-communists, while critics from libertarians to some Trump allies warn opaque state ownership can distort competition, entrench weak firms and invite political favoritism.
Polling shows only 8% of Americans identify as socialist, yet 39% to 35% favor a bigger government providing more services, underscoring a broader shift in support for a more interventionist state.