WASHINGTON—The Defense Department is expanding its investment in quantum computing with roughly $350 million in new initiatives, including a conditional $150 million loan commitment to PsiQuantum aimed at strengthening advanced manufacturing and prototyping in the United States.
The effort is designed to accelerate development of quantum systems that could eventually support national-security missions in areas including materials science, chemistry, weapons development and advanced computing.
As part of the broader initiative, the Office of Strategic Capital announced a conditional loan commitment to PsiQuantum, which is developing a photonic approach to fault-tolerant quantum computing.
The proposed financing would support PsiQuantum’s manufacturing and prototyping capabilities in the United States and builds on separate work involving the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and federal semiconductor initiatives.
The loan has not yet closed. PsiQuantum must still satisfy financial, legal, technical, due-diligence and other requirements before the financing can proceed.
The Defense Department is also increasing funding through DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, which is evaluating whether prospective quantum-computing systems can operate at useful scale.
Four quantum-computing providers have advanced to Stage C of that program, representing about $200 million in new funding on top of more than $650 million previously invested by DARPA in prospective providers.
During Stage C, DARPA will work with participating companies to verify whether their proposed utility-scale systems can be built and operated as designed. The review will focus on technical risks, prototype requirements and the feasibility of each company’s development plan.
The department also plans to place greater emphasis on identifying practical military applications for quantum computing as the technology matures.
Officials said future quantum systems could help address complex problems in chemistry, materials science and physics, potentially contributing to the development of new weapons, platforms and other defense capabilities.
Beginning before January 2027, DARPA is expected to host a series of workshops with the Department of Energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Laboratory for Physical Sciences. The sessions will bring together end users and quantum-algorithm specialists to identify potential high-value applications.
The Defense Department said the new programs will complement quantum initiatives underway at the Department of Energy, National Science Foundation and NASA.
Federal officials increasingly view quantum computing as a foundational technology with implications for both economic competitiveness and military capability, placing it alongside artificial intelligence and advanced semiconductors as a strategic priority.
The combined initiatives are intended to strengthen the U.S. quantum industrial base while pushing companies closer to developing systems capable of performing commercially and militarily useful calculations.