The Fed Gov investing in tech companies?

Almost 40% of all scientific research is funded by the Federal Government. The COVID vaccines that surely helped reduce the impact of the pandemic were developed under Operation Lightspeed a public/private partnership under the Voldemort Administration.

Huge idea. The Government can help propel this nation forward and prudently apply a page from the Chinese Gov's playbook!

Quantum computing companies might be Trump's next target for a government stake. The stocks surge

At least five companies are reportedly considering taking government money in exchange for potential future profits

By Chris Morris, Quartz Media

Published 22 hours ago

The U.S. government is thinking about diversifying its investment portfolio.

At least five quantum computing funds are in different stages of talks or consideration about exchanging stakes in their company in return for federal funding, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The discussions come just two months after the government took a 10% equity stake in Intel and a little more than three months after the Pentagon took a 15% stake in the largest rare earths miner in the U.S.

IonQ, Rigetti Computing, and D-Wave Quantum are said to be discussing adding the government as a shareholder, The Journal reports. Quantum Computing Inc. and Atom Computing are also said to be considering similar arrangements, with other unnamed companies considering it as well. The investments would start at $10 million, far below the $9 billion in grants that were converted to equity for Intel.

Shares of IonQ and D-Wave were up 9% in pre-market trading Thursday. Rigetti stock saw a 7% increase and Quantum Computing shares gained 11%.

This would be the government's first investment in quantum computing, a field that has been compared to artificial intelligence in its ability to transform society. The technology will allow computers to work exponentially faster than they do today, performing complex simulations in a faction of the time.

Bank of America was particularly bullish on quantum computing in July, writing in a note to investors that the technology "could be the biggest revolution for humanity since discovering fire. A technology that can perform endless complex calculations in zero-time, warp-speeding human knowledge and development."

Unlike AI, though, quantum computing has a long way to go before it's a day-to-day reality. Even companies working on prototypes (including Google) say they don’t expect to deliver a useful quantum computer until the end of the decade. And many say it could be another 10 years before there's a breakthrough that's suitable for commercial applications.

No investment deals with the Trump administration have been completed and there have been no commitments as yet, nor have precise terms of the potential investments been defined. By taking equity stakes in the companies, though, that would give the government more control over the technology's rollout — and could have a financial upside, should these companies see their stock price soar.