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Deeptech and AI · Research note · 21 Oct 2026

161 federal quantum awards in 45 days: the money below the $100 million headlines

Public award records in Svatantra.ai's signal database show 161 federal awards dated 1 September to 15 October 2026 whose title or opening line names quantum. They come from 11 agencies, 99 of them from the National Science Foundation, and 133 went to a university, college or institute. The median amount as printed is $334,132. This note sets out the counts, five named records checked against the public award data, the public announcements behind the $100 million and $150 million headlines of September and October 2026, and what the data does not show.

By Jayprakash Mistry, Founder, Svatantra.ai

One email with the PDF attached. You will be on the list for future notes and can unsubscribe from any of them. The list is not sold or shared.

Every number, and where it comes from

The first five figures in the note.

The full table has 18 rows. Each figure is as published on the date shown, with its denominator.

FigureWhat it measuresSource
161Distinct federal award records (by public record URL) dated 1 Sep to 15 Oct 2026 whose award description names quantum or qubit in its first 150 characters (the title or opening line); 206 rows before de-duplicationSvatantra.ai signal database, count at 16 Oct 2026
11Distinct awarding agencies across the 161 awardsSvatantra.ai signal database, count at 16 Oct 2026
99, 15, 15, 15, 8, 9Awards by agency: National Science Foundation, NASA, Commerce (NIST), Energy, Defense (grants only), and six other agencies combined (Interior 2, HHS 2, GSA 2, DHS 1, Education 1, State 1)Svatantra.ai signal database, count at 16 Oct 2026
124Distinct recipients, by unique entity identifier or, for the 12 records without one, by recipient name (113 distinct identifiers alone)Svatantra.ai signal database, count at 16 Oct 2026
$334,132Median award amount as printed on the 161 recordsSvatantra.ai signal database, count at 16 Oct 2026

13 more figures in the PDF, each with its source.

Sources

12 primary releases.

  1. USASpending.gov, THE TRUSTEES OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, award 2553633 (NSF) (Start 1 September 2026)
    Verbatim description: "QLCI: MANUFACTURABLE AND RESILIENT SUPERCONDUCTING QUANTUM INFORMATION SYSTEMS (MARQUIS)". Obligation $6,500,000. Signed 2026-08-21. Period of performance 2026-09-01 to 2031-08-31. Awarding agency: National Science Foundation.
    usaspending.gov
  2. USASpending.gov, THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, award 2553576 (NSF) (Start 1 September 2026)
    Verbatim description: "QLCI: QUANTUM SENSING FOR BIOPHYSICS AND BIOENGINEERING (QUBBE) -QUANTUM SENSORS PROMISE NEW WAYS TO EXAMINE THE LIVING WORLD". Obligation $6,500,000. Signed 2026-08-21. Period of performance 2026-09-01 to 2031-08-31. Awarding agency: National Science Foundation.
    usaspending.gov
  3. USASpending.gov, BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY, award 60NANB26D097 (NIST) (Start 1 September 2026)
    Verbatim description: "PURPOSE: THE PURPOSE OF THIS GRANT IS TO SUPPORT QUANTUM RESEARCH-FOCUSED SEED GRANTS THAT ADVANCE QIS RESEARCH THROUGH". Obligation $4,000,000. Signed 2026-08-20. Period of performance 2026-09-01 to 2029-08-31. Awarding agency: Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology.
    usaspending.gov
  4. USASpending.gov, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, award DEAR0002108 (ARPA-E) (Start 3 September 2026)
    Verbatim description: "THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL INTEGRATE QUANTUM COMPUTING INTO MATERIALS DISCOVERY WORKFLOWS,". Obligation $2,506,000 (total with non-federal share $3,000,947). Signed 2026-09-02. Period of performance 2026-09-03 to 2029-09-02. Awarding agency: Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy.
    usaspending.gov
  5. USASpending.gov, REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, award FA9550261B355 (AFOSR) (Start 30 September 2026)
    Verbatim description: "(MURI) DYNAMICALLY-CONTROLLED ATOMIC METASURFACES FOR NOVEL QUANTUM PHOTONICS". Obligation $3,000,000. Signed 2026-09-17. Period of performance 2026-09-30 to 2031-09-29. Awarding agency: Department of Defense, Department of the Air Force, AFRL AFOSR.
    usaspending.gov
  6. PsiQuantum, PsiQuantum receives conditional $150 million loan commitment from the U.S. Department of War (8 October 2026)
    "PsiQuantum announced today that the company has received a conditional commitment for a loan of up to $150 million from the U.S. Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital (OSC), which would expand the company's advanced manufacturing and prototyping capabilities in the United States." "PsiQuantum also announced that the company signed definitive documentation with the U.S. Department of Commerce for $100 million in federal incentives" (September 2026). "In July 2026, the company announced a new $125 million expanded agreement with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)".
    psiquantum.com
  7. Nextgov/FCW, Commerce commits to funding incentives with 9 companies to spur quantum development (21 May 2026)
    "$2.013 billion in CHIPS funding will go to" IBM ($1 billion), GlobalFoundries ($375 million), Diraq ($38 million), Infleqtion, Atom Computing, D-Wave, PsiQuantum, Quantinuum and Rigetti ($100 million each), under letters of intent.
    nextgov.com
  8. Quantum Computing Report, Rigetti Computing finalizes definitive $100 million CHIPS Act award with U.S. Department of Commerce (14 September 2026)
    "for a $100 million federal R&D award under the CHIPS and Science Act"; "the Department of Commerce will receive a minority, non-controlling equity stake in Rigetti".
    quantumcomputingreport.com
  9. Quantum Computing Report, D-Wave finalizes definitive $100 million CHIPS Act agreement with U.S. Department of Commerce (8 September 2026)
    "has finalized a $100 million CHIPS Act agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce"; part of a program that allocates "$2 billion across nine quantum hardware and foundry developers".
    quantumcomputingreport.com
  10. Quantum Computing Report, Quantinuum finalizes $100 million CHIPS Act R&D award to accelerate trapped-ion manufacturing (8 or 9 September 2026 (page and metadata differ))
    Quantinuum will "receive $100 million in direct federal R&D funding under the CHIPS and Science Act" from the "U.S. Department of Commerce's CHIPS Research and Development Office".
    quantumcomputingreport.com
  11. Quantum Computing Report, U.S. Department of War announces $350 million quantum package highlighted by $150 million OSC loan commitment for PsiQuantum (8 October 2026)
    "has announced a broader $350 million quantum technology initiative". Background only; the official release could not be opened and the figure is not used in the post.
    quantumcomputingreport.com
  12. Svatantra.ai, Signal database (16 October 2026)
    Counted: public federal award records (contracts and assistance awards), US jurisdiction, dated 1 September to 15 October 2026, with quantum or qubit in the first 150 characters of the description, counted once per record URL: 206 rows, 161 awards, 11 agencies, 124 recipients. Amounts as printed. Counts at 16 October 2026.
    svatantra.ai