IBM’s Anderon lands $1B CHIPS award for US quantum wafer foundry

 Anderon, an IBM company, has finalized US$647.1M award under the CHIPS and Science Act with the US Department of Commerce. The grant will fund research and development at Anderon’s 300mm pure-play quantum wafer foundry in Albany, New York.

Why now? The award follows a May letter of intent between the Department of Commerce and IBM. Anderon has already run its first quantum wafers through its facility, an early milestone the company says shows it can move research into commercial-grade production.

What’s the endgame? Anderon operates as a pure-play foundry, selling quantum wafer manufacturing to customers across the industry rather than one buyer. IBM is backing the venture with an additional $1 billion investment.

The foundry makes specialized wafers for superconducting qubit arrays, quantum input/output signaling, and readout signal chain components. It plans to expand to other quantum modalities.

Between the lines: The grant supports both a customer and a supplier. “IBM’s quantum roadmap requires a manufacturing foundation that can scale at the pace our work demands,” said Jay Gambetta, director of IBM Research and an IBM Fellow.

Zoom out: Chief executive officer Mukesh Khare framed the deal as a scaling play. “This agreement with the Department of Commerce strengthens our ability to deliver the manufacturing scale the quantum industry needs,” he said, adding the goal is to move quantum “from research breakthroughs to real-world impact.”

The signal: The $1 billion award ranks among the largest grants ever recorded for a US quantum technology company — the top percentile of 96 comparable deals. It reflects Washington’s push to build domestic manufacturing for an industry still moving from lab to market.