The US Department of Energy puts up 215 million dollars for a fault-tolerant quantum computer

On 17 September 2026, the US Department of Energy launched the Quantum Genesis Q Competition, aimed at deploying the first scientifically relevant, fault-tolerant quantum computers. Total planned funding is up to 215 million dollars, of which 2.5 million in fiscal year 2026, the remainder depending on future congressional appropriations.

The bar is explicit. Applicants, private companies only, must propose a machine with at least 100 logical qubits capable of hundreds of millions of fault-tolerant operations, along with scientific demonstration programmes in chemistry, materials, physics and applied mathematics. Phase I offers fixed awards of up to 1.5 million dollars per company for early milestones. Phase II shares a 100 million dollar pool among participants that demonstrate a system with at least 100 logical qubits, with two further pools of 50 million dollars each for 150 and 200 logical qubits. A separate 45 million dollar call funds national laboratories to build a validation and verification testbed. Applications are due by 19 October 2026.

The competition comes days after the report of the SCAC Quantum Committee, the advisory body of the DOE Office of Science, titled Path to an Integrated Quantum Future (September 2026). Its central idea is to measure progress by scientific utility, the ability to solve compelling scientific problems, rather than by hardware figures alone. Chaired by Anna Grassellino (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory), the committee lays out three phases, presented on 17 September by Darío Gil, Under Secretary for Science: Quantum Grand Challenges from 2026 to 2028 to demonstrate validated scientific applications, then a DOE Quantum Computing User Facility created only if scientific value, technical readiness and user demand are established, and finally integration with the department's supercomputers, AI systems and experiments after 2030. Target areas include chemistry and catalysis, materials, fusion energy, particle and nuclear physics, and sensing.

Both documents were shared on LinkedIn by Frédéric Barbaresco.