GlobalFoundries secures $375m CHIPS Act award for quantum chip R&D
GlobalFoundries has finalised a definitive agreement with the US Department of Commerce's CHIPS Research and Development Office for a $375 million award supporting the NASDAQ-listed foundry's Quantum Technology Solutions (QTS) business. The funding, disbursed over five years and tied to specified performance milestones, is intended to accelerate research and expand access to manufacturing capabilities for quantum chip developers seeking to move from prototype to commercial-scale production.
The agreement represents a substantial commitment from Washington to onshore the quantum semiconductor supply chain, a segment that has historically relied on fragile international dependencies. GlobalFoundries frames QTS as a foundry-of-record option for quantum hardware companies whose own fabs cannot yet handle volume production of cryogenic components.
The deal
Nicholas Sergeant, vice president and general manager of Quantum Technology Solutions, said the funding would continue "building the foundation for a secure, domestic quantum manufacturing ecosystem." GlobalFoundries did not disclose which customers or ecosystem partners are currently engaged with QTS, nor did it provide specifics on the milestones that will gate each tranche of the award.
The company also revealed it has entered into a separate $300 million letter of intent with the same CHIPS R&D Office to accelerate silicon photonics research, suggesting a broader strategic position around the optical interconnect and quantum adjacency that underpins next-generation AI infrastructure. GlobalFoundries highlighted cryogenic CMOS, advanced packaging and heterogeneous integration as the core technical differentiators underpinning both programmes.
Market context and competitive read-across
The CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law in 2022, allocated approximately $11 billion for R&D and workforce programmes, with the CHIPS R&D Office running competitive award processes across a range of semiconductor sub-sectors. GlobalFoundries now has two significant positions within that envelope, spanning quantum and photonics. Intel, TSMC and Samsung have each secured separate CHIPS fabrication awards, but GlobalFoundries is differentiated by its focus on speciality process nodes rather than leading-edge logic, giving it a credible claim on the cryogenic and RF processes that quantum hardware demands.
The wider quantum computing market remains early-stage from a commercial revenue perspective. Systems vendors such as IBM, IonQ, Quantinuum and Google Quantum AI are each pursuing distinct hardware architectures, but all face the same foundry bottleneck: reliable, repeatable production of the chips and control electronics that sit beneath the dilution refrigerators. A well-capitalised foundry partner with US-government backing represents a meaningful infrastructure asset for the sector.
Regulatory and policy read-across
Quantum computing sits squarely within the US export-control perimeter. The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security has signalled increasing scrutiny of quantum technology transfers to adversarial nations, and the award to GlobalFoundries is consistent with a broader federal push to ensure that domestically funded quantum advances remain within allied supply chains. UK and EU counterparts are pursuing parallel strategies: the UK's National Quantum Strategy has committed £2.5 billion over ten years, while the EU Quantum Flagship programme continues to fund research across member states.
For GlobalFoundries, the QTS programme and the photonics letter of intent together position the company as an infrastructure layer for both quantum computing and AI optical interconnects, two technology bets that carry significant long-horizon capital requirements. Investors will be watching the milestone cadence and whether the company can announce named quantum-hardware customers as the programme progresses over its five-year term.