US Department of Energy launches $215m quantum computing competition

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the ‘Quantum Genesis Q Competition’, a program offering up to $215 million to accelerate the development of fault-tolerant quantum computers. Led by the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR), the initiative seeks proposals for systems featuring at least 100 logical qubits capable of performing hundreds of millions of fault-tolerant operations.

The competition is structured in two phases. Phase I provides awards of up to $1.5 million for reaching early development milestones. Phase II includes a $100 million general incentive pool for demonstrating a first-generation scientifically relevant quantum computer with at least 100 logical qubits, with additional $50 million pools available for systems reaching 150 and 200 logical qubits.

In addition to the competition, the DOE announced $45 million to establish a Quantum High-Performance Computing Validation and Verification Testbed at its National Laboratories to benchmark and validate technological claims. While the program focuses on scientific applications in chemistry, physics, and mathematics, the advancement of such technology has implications for cryptography and the security of digital assets like Bitcoin.