From AI to Qubits: Why Trump Is Positioning Quantum Computing as a Strategic Imperative

TradingKey - Following its investment in Intel, the Trump administration is now setting its sights on quantum computing — a field Wall Street has hailed as the greatest revolutionary breakthrough since humanity discovered fire. Given quantum computing’s immense strategic advantages in technology, economics, and geopolitics, Trump’s potential equity stake underscores how it has become a new battleground for national competition.

On Wednesday, October 22, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration is considering taking equity stakes in quantum computing companies. Firms including IonQ, Rigetti Computing, and D-Wave Quantum have already held talks with government officials, while others like Quantum Computing Inc. and Atom Computing are reportedly waiting in line.

Unlike traditional approaches such as R&D subsidies or tax incentives, President Donald Trump’s return to power has ushered in an unprecedented “national equity ownership” model of industrial policy — involving direct government investment and intervention in critical sectors like:

• Semiconductors (e.g., Intel)
• Rare earths (e.g., MP Materials)
• Steel (e.g., Nippon Steel)

Now, Trump is extending this strategic investment strategy to quantum computing.

In a July report, Bank of America declared that quantum computing could be “ the biggest revolution for humanity since discovering fire” — a technology capable of solving infinitely complex calculations in near-zero time, dramatically accelerating human knowledge and development.

Why Quantum Computing Matters

Quantum computing leverages principles like superposition and entanglement to theoretically achieve unimaginable speedups over classical computers for specific tasks — particularly in:

• Large-scale combinatorial optimization
• Quantum chemistry simulation
• Materials science
• Certain machine learning applications

It is seen as a foundational technology for future advances in:

• High-performance computing
• Drug discovery
• Energy optimization
• Climate modeling

Major tech firms — including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Intel, and IBM — are all investing heavily in quantum research. Even Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, once skeptical of quantum computing, has recently shifted his stance.

MarketWatch noted that quantum computing uses quantum mechanics to solve problems far faster than classical binary (0s and 1s) systems — likely explaining why the U.S. government is so interested.

Geopolitical Race for Quantum Supremacy

Bank of America highlighted the massive geopolitical advantage at stake:

“Whoever wins the 'quantum race' will gain an unprecedented geopolitical, technological and economic advantage.”

As of the bank’s report, governments worldwide had announced at least $42 billion in funding for quantum initiatives — over one-third of which came from China.

Despite its promise, quantum computing remains in experimental and exploratory stages. Significant technical barriers — including decoherence, error rates (“noise”), and scalability — stand between today’s lab prototypes and widespread commercial use.

BofA acknowledged that current quantum systems suffer from “noisy” qubits, where interference or inaccuracies disrupt computation — a major hurdle to reliable performance.

Market Response: From Theory to Investment

Even as practical applications remain years away, capital markets are already reacting positively:

• Rigetti Computing: Up over 100% YTD
• D-Wave Quantum: More than doubled this year

In August, Morgan Stanley disclosed a 7% stake in IonQ, betting on the transition of quantum computing from research to real-world deployment.

The firm emphasized that quantum computing and AI are complementary, not competitive:

“Quantum chips are designed to work as quantum accelerators alongside AI systems to unlock entirely new capabilities that can amplify AI's potential beyond the reach of classical computing. The two technologies have very different strengths and therefore lend themselves to different use cases with AI excelling at creativity, language and video processing, while quantum computing is more suited for tackling complex problems that are beyond the capabilities of classical algorithms.”