Key Points
- The US government announced $2 billion in investments in quantum computing companies last week, giving $100 million each to a bunch of startups.
- The biggest chunk — $1 billion — goes to a brand new company called Anderon, co-funded by IBM and the government, which will be the world's first quantum foundry.
- Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) says the whole deal is illegal because the money came from the CHIPS Act, which was specifically for semiconductor research, not quantum stuff.
- She also notes the money was supposed to fund public/private research partnerships, not straight-up equity investments in private companies.
- To make it spicier, Lofgren points out that a former IBM executive (Dario Gil) now works at the Department of Energy and helped negotiate the deal.
- Nobody knows how to stop it — a lawsuit would need a party with standing, and Congress might have to pass a whole new law to block it.
Why It Matters
This is wild because the government might have just accidentally invented a new way to fund tech startups — by ignoring what Congress told them to do with the money. If this is illegal, the whole $2 billion bet could get yanked back, leaving startups high and dry. Plus, it raises huge questions about whether former corporate execs in government are playing favorites. If Congress can't stop this, what's stopping the next administration from doing the same thing with other funds?
