Quantum computing is increasingly expected to have a role in shaping the future of science, commerce and more, and the U.S. government just gave leaders in the field a big thumbs-up.
On May 21, the U.S. Commerce Department announced it would give a total of $2 billion in grants to nine companies at the bleeding edge of quantum computing technology, including International Business Machines Corp. (ticker: IBM). The federal incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act are intended to “accelerate solving the most critical technology challenges in the race to develop utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers,” the agency said.
Why Is the U.S. Government Funding Quantum Computing?
The overall aim is to strengthen America’s position in quantum computing on the world stage. Two of the awards are aimed at developing domestic quantum foundries: IBM, the biggest grant recipient with an award of $1 billion to make quantum-grade superconducting wafers, rose 12% in trading the day of the announcement, adding $26 billion to its market capitalization; and GlobalFoundries Inc. (GFS), with a $375 million grant, jumped over 10%.
Additionally, D-Wave Quantum Inc. (QBTS), Rigetti Computing Inc. (RGTI), Infleqtion Inc. (INFQ) and privately held PsiQuantum, Atom Computing and Quantinuum will get $100 million each for research and development. (Quantinuum publicly filed in early May for an initial public offering with an estimated target valuation of $20 billion, and will list on the Nasdaq under the ticker QNT.) Finally, quantum tech firm Diraq will get up to $38 million.
The Trump administration will take “minority, non-controlling” equity stakes in each of the companies as a condition of receiving the funding.
“The CHIPS R&D Office is taking a portfolio approach to strengthen and accelerate U.S. leadership across multiple quantum modalities at once, while focusing each award on discrete technological problems of genuine consequence,” said Bill Frauenhofer, executive director of semiconductor investment and innovation, in the statement.
A portfolio approach via exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, is probably a good idea for retail investors, too, who may be interested in pursuing a long-term theme like quantum computing. Part of the reason is that the technology is still in its nascent stages, with massive growth potential. A lot can happen along the way.
What’s Quantum Computing’s Growth Potential?
According to Persistence Market Research, the worldwide quantum computing market is valued at $698.6 million in 2026 and is expected to rise to $1.7 billion by 2033. That’s a compound annual growth rate of 13.7% over the next seven years.
Another headlining study from Fujitsu titled, “Quantum Computing: From Experimentation to Strategic Positioning,” notes that the quantum computing industry is at a pivotal point, with “groundbreaking breakthroughs” ahead.
“Today, quantum computing remains in the research and proof-of-concept stage, with applications limited to toy problems that show potential rather than provide practical business value,” the Fujitsu report states. This year, “the focus will shift from simply counting qubits and technical demonstrations to building robust hybrid infrastructures, developing quantum-ready workforces and forming the partnerships that will be important when fault-tolerant quantum computers emerge in the early 2030s.”
Industry observers say the days of sluggish momentum are over for the quantum computing industry.
“Capital is flowing, and the market is maturing,” says Jeremy Samuelson, executive vice president of AI and innovation at Integrated Quantum Technologies. “Buyers and investors are moving from ‘qubit counting’ to reliability, error correction and economic utility as the real gating factors.” In short, funding remains strong, but it’s becoming more focused where there’s credible technical and go-to-market execution.
How Soon Will Quantum Computing See Commercial Success?
When it comes to commercial timelines, Samuelson says the industry is seeing two divergent patterns emerge, depending on exactly what quantum computing experts mean by “commercial.”
“If by ‘commercial’ we mean paid pilots, government/defense adoption, early enterprise deployments and quantum-adjacent revenue, that’s happening now and accelerating,” he says. “If we mean broad, fault-tolerant, utility-scale quantum computing that beats classical systems on economically important workloads, then that’s still a 2030s story for most architectures.”
One key credibility anchor that quantum industry veterans are seeing is that timelines are being benchmarked more rigorously. “DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative is explicitly designed to verify whether any approach can reach utility scale (value exceeds cost) by 2033,” Samuelson says. “That kind of independent validation is good for the industry, as it separates hype from engineering reality.”
With momentum on their side, investors are looking for an easy entry into the complex world of quantum computing through exchange-traded funds, with a burgeoning number taking off. These five quantum ETFs are making the biggest impression right now:
| ETF | EXPENSE RATIO | ASSETS |
| Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM) | 0.40% | $4.3 billion |
| WisdomTree Quantum Computing Fund (WQTM) | 0.45% | $47.4 million |
| iShares U.S. Technology ETF (IYW) | 0.38% | $21.5 billion |
| State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) | 0.35% | $2.5 billion |
| Ark Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ) | 0.75% | $2.1 billion |
Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM)
Assets: $4.3 billion
Expense ratio: 0.4%
Year-to-date return: 36.5%
The Defiance Quantum ETF is a real outperformer, easily besting the Nasdaq-100 in 2024 and 2025, with a return of 50.5% against the Nasdaq-100’s 25.7% advance in 2024 and a return of 36.7% in 2025, nearly doubling the Nasdaq-100’s 20.8% gain.
It’s not a “quantum only” fund, with assets also steered into artificial intelligence and semiconductor companies. The fund balances powerhouse technology stocks like Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) and IBM with smaller quantum plays like IonQ Inc. (IONQ) and D-Wave Quantum to give investors a broad shot at some of the most profitable brands in technology, with some ballast attached if those smaller quantum stocks grow too volatile. Weighting is also roughly equal among all the fund’s stocks, with holdings ranging from 1.7% to 2% of the portfolio for the fund’s top 10 companies.
The fund is up 36.5% so far in 2026, well ahead of the Nasdaq-100’s roughly 17% gain. It’s up 78.4% over the past year, with an annualized 27.7% gain over the past five years. Plus, of all of the top 10 holdings, none are rated below “hold” by a consensus of analysts, with four “strong buys” listed in that group as of early May.
WisdomTree Quantum Computing Fund (WQTM)
Assets: $47.4 million
Expense ratio: 0.45%
Year-to-date return: 40.8%
Launched last October, the WisdomTree Quantum Computing Fund is a new player in the quantum investment landscape that strips out many of the mega-cap stocks that other funds tend to hold. This means you won’t have an unwanted overlap with other investments that you may already hold. You also won’t risk losing out on the upside if one of the ETF’s startups begins to rally.
After a pullback, this fund is in major rebound mode. There are risks with WQTM, especially given its low assets under management (AUM), but with the quantum industry growing so fast right now, it’s a decent risk to take. WQTM is up 41% year to date, well ahead of its category.
iShares U.S. Technology ETF (IYW)
Assets: $21.5 billion
Expense ratio: 0.38%
Year-to-date return: 20.3%
Another good way to spread some risk from quantum computing stocks is via BlackRock Inc.’s (BLK) iShares U.S. Technology ETF, a larger fund with a broader focus on companies that have proven to excel in developing advanced technologies like quantum computing. This means the fund holds positions in quantum tech development as well as electronics, software, hardware and the development of powerful computer chips.
The fund has been a solid producer for shareholders, returning 53.4% over the past year. Its three-year return is impressive, too, at 34.9% versus 29.7% for its category over the same period, according to Morningstar.
This means that you’ll get exposure to quantum computing firms alongside tech giants Nvidia (17% of the fund), Apple Inc. (AAPL) (14%) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) (13%). Consequently, this ETF should be viewed as a more generalized fund than pure plays like QTUM and WQTM.
Trading around $240, the fund recently earned a “strong buy” rating from 139 analysts canvassed by TipRanks.com, with an average price target of $275.86, indicating about a 15% potential upside over the next year.
State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD)
Assets: $2.5 billion
Expense ratio: 0.35%
Year-to-date return: 79.4%
This technology fund uses a passive management strategy designed to track the total return of the S&P Semiconductor Select Industry Index. That gives quantum computing investors indirect exposure through semiconductors as well as select quantum industry stocks. The fund pairs big-brand chip names like Marvell Technology Inc. (MRVL), which has a $145 billion market cap, with smaller semiconductor plays like Lattice Semiconductor Corp. (LSCC), with a $16 billion market cap. In fact, about 75% of the fund is invested in non-large-cap technology stocks, which might be a selling point for growth-minded quantum computing and semiconductor investors but not for stability-minded tech investors.
The fund is reasonably priced, with a 0.35% expense ratio, meaning XSD investors pay $35 annually on a $10,000 investment.
XSD is performing well so far in 2026, with the fund up a whopping 79% year to date versus 25% for its category.
Ark Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ)
Assets: $2.1 billion
Expense ratio: 0.75%
Year-to-date return: 16.4%
At a 0.75% expense ratio, the Ark Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF has one of the stickier price points, but you can’t argue with the results. On average, the fund has returned 22.8% annually over the past decade. Just check out the past three years, when ARKQ produced returns of 48.8% in 2025, 33.9% in 2024 and 40.7% in 2023, easily dusting its category numbers (7.6%, 16.5% and 21.4%, respectively).
Structurally, the mid-cap, growth-oriented Ark Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF holds $2.1 billion in assets and aims to track long-term capital growth in the information technology sector.
Analysts note only about three to five of the fund’s holdings are directly in quantum computing companies at any given time (it recently offloaded Rigetti), but there’s an obvious argument to be made that stocks like Alphabet, Nvidia and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), all held in ARKQ, operate directly in the quantum realm, too. It’s an active ETF, and manager Cathie Wood isn’t shy about moving in and out of quantum computing positions. In addition to the Rigetti example, ARKQ recently divested a significant position in Quantum-Si Inc. (QSI) in late 2025, so investors need to be aware of how quickly and regularly quantum stocks can come and go from the fund.
That’s OK if you seek a reliable, top-performing technology fund with a range of emerging technologies from the fields of quantum computing, AI and robotics. If that’s the case, ARKQ is a leader when it comes to picking firms with high growth potential in their respective fields.
How to Invest in Long-Horizon Tech Like QC
A practical framework for quantum exposure should incorporate key strategies, market experts say.
“Treat QC like frontier tech, not mature tech,” Samuelson advises. “Even specialist investors acknowledge QC won’t be replacing supercomputers in 2026, and industrial scale remains elusive. Expect volatility, longer timelines and frequent resets of market narrative.”
“Companies that have large supply chains or partnership relationships with countries or other international locations may face risk from tariffs, regulatory scrutiny or export restrictions,” says Martin Robinson, director and investment analyst at Amzonite, a hedge fund advisor for high-net-worth individuals. “All of these items can impact the cost, timeline and ultimately the market dynamics of a particular technology and should be taken into account when evaluating the overall direction of the sector.”
Of course, the government’s recent quantum funding actions suggest an intensifying defensive positioning against competitor China and supply chain threats. In fact, it could be argued that the urgency is palpable.
What to Look for in Quantum Computing Stocks or ETFs
Investors interested in gaining exposure to the quantum computing space should focus on companies or ETFs with a clearly defined research pipeline, robust partnerships, diversified technology applications and strong intellectual property. “Rather than trying to chase down the latest headline name, doing your research can help mitigate the risks,” Robinson says.
If you are new to quantum computing investing, thoroughly research the space, understand that it is a high-risk, long-term investment opportunity and consider spreading your exposure across multiple companies or ETFs to help mitigate volatility. “While quantum computing is a very interesting technology, it is essential to align your expectations with both the science behind the technology and the realities of the marketplace,” he says.