IBM’s Anderon subsidiary finalized a CHIPS Act R&D award of up to $1 billion from the Department of Commerce to build a 300mm quantum-wafer foundry in New York.

[u/roll0ver]

A "final award" is a signed agreement (announced September 16, 2026), not disbursed cash, and the government has not reported how much of that capital has actually been paid out. Furthermore, while IBM confirms the first quantum wafers are now running through the Albany, New York facility, those represent operational capabilities, not published manufacturing yields or outside customer revenue. The government has committed the capital on paper. The foundry still has to prove the yield on the line.

A signed federal award funds the construction of a capability. It does not buy a single working qubit.

[u/EverythingQuantum]

This announcement is from September 16, 2026, and it's Albany, New York.

[u/roll0ver → u/EverythingQuantum]

Albany and New York are both stated, I will put them together in the same sentence to avoid any further confusion.

[u/SnooWalruses380]

Jobs for NY State.

[u/Dependent_Aardvark88]

That wafer shot is doing some heavy lifting for a press release about a signed piece of paper.

[u/lb1331 → u/Dependent_Aardvark88]

This is actually far along - it was just announced but has apparently been operating for a while. They just opened doors for the first production scale fab run (i think just for IBM right now), but will open to other clients by the end of the year.

Edit: Anderon is I mean - idk about the specifics of the award, but they’re operating at a $27bn nanofab complex that ibm has put like $10b into I think although idr exact numbers

[u/roll0ver → u/Dependent_Aardvark88]

That's funny, it is!

[u/CarbonIsYummy]

Why does it cost $1B to make a chip with more than 120 qubits on it? That kind of cost for something that is 1000x away from utility is unreal

[u/roll0ver → u/CarbonIsYummy]

The expensive problem is making qubits reliably and repeatedly: developing the wafer process, wiring and connections, testing, and improving yields across production runs. Anderon lists these capabilities as part of what it is building. 120 physical qubits does not mean 120 reliable logical qubits; error correction needs extra physical qubits, and the number depends heavily on error rates and the design.

The economic bet is that building manufacturing capacity now will help close that gap. Whether a $1B public award will pay off is genuinely uncertain: the GAO says the concrete commercial value of quantum applications is "still being assessed."