IBM (IBM) Finalizes $1 Billion CHIPS Award for Quantum Foundry

IBM (IBM) said its quantum foundry business Anderon has finalized an agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce for a $1 billion award under the CHIPS and Science Act, converting a letter of intent announced in May into a completed deal.

The agreement was announced on Sept. 16. Anderon, which IBM describes as a pure-play quantum foundry, operates a 300-millimeter quantum wafer fabrication facility and is headquartered in Albany, New York. IBM said it is committing a further $1 billion of its own investment alongside the federal award.

The company said the funding will accelerate research and development in quantum wafer manufacturing. Anderon produces specialized wafers supporting high-performance superconducting qubit arrays, quantum input and output signaling, and readout signal chain components, and has said it intends to expand into other quantum modalities.

IBM said the facility has passed an early operational milestone, with the first quantum wafers now running through its manufacturing line.

“This agreement with the Department of Commerce strengthens our ability to deliver the manufacturing scale the quantum industry needs,” Anderon Chief Executive Officer Mukesh Khare said in the statement.

Jay Gambetta, director of IBM Research and an IBM Fellow, said Anderon’s focus on wafer fabrication “gives us exactly that and strengthens our ability to execute.”

The award is one of the larger CHIPS Act commitments directed at quantum computing rather than conventional logic or memory production. Most of the program’s headline awards have gone to leading-edge silicon fabrication and advanced packaging.

For enterprise buyers the announcement is a supply-chain signal rather than a product one. Quantum systems remain research infrastructure, and IBM’s installed base in data centres continues to run on conventional server hardware. Organisations sourcing IBM System x and Power-era spares can browse our IBM server parts range.

Sources: IBM Newsroom announcement, Sept. 16, 2026; U.S. Department of Commerce CHIPS and Science Act award documentation as cited by IBM.