The technology sector on Wall Street experienced a true earthquake last week.
The White House ramps up the pace. No more laboratory idyll
When investors panicked over AI, quantum computing companies celebrated massive gains.
Donald Trump, gathering industry leaders in the White House, signed two historic executive orders. The U.S. administration declared quantum technology an absolute strategic priority for the country.
General ambitions ended, and Washington introduces concrete timelines and hard, measurable goals for business and science.
For an industry that has long teased investors with breakthrough visions but rarely delivered commercial profits, this is a powerful energy injection. Classical computers (even supercomputers with enormous computing power) operate on bits (0 and 1), processing data sequentially.
Quantum computers use qubits, which thanks to superposition can be zero and one simultaneously, performing complex calculations in parallel. Although qubits are fickle and prone to external disturbances, the new policy will force the sector to tame this chaos.
All this to properly prepare for the so‑called Q-Day, the day when quantum computers will be able to easily break modern security such as AES‑256 encryption.
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A quantum computer in two years and market euphoria
The first order brings the QC‑ADDS initiative to life, mandating federal agencies to work closely with private business and universities.
Goal? Deliver a quantum computer capable of real advanced research support by 2028. The machine must be housed in the Department of Energy, and the Pentagon must implement at least three next‑generation sensor projects by then. The focus is on practical usefulness, not just mindless scaling of laboratory experiments.
The market reacted instantly. Quantinuum, formed from the merger of Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum, rose more than 5,43% at the close on Friday, June 26, reaching 75.57 USD.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna called Trump’s move a “significant and timely step forward.”
Meanwhile Matthew Kinsella, head of Infleqtion, declared that the quantum race has become a “national mandate.”
Chart. Quantinuum stock price
Source: TradingView.
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The cyber‑security arms race
Simultaneously Washington launches a quantum shield. The second order strikes directly at cybersecurity, ordering federal agencies and government contractors to dramatically accelerate the deployment of post‑quantum cryptography.
New safeguards must be operational by early 2030, about four years earlier than originally planned. It’s worth noting that just a few years ago scientists predicted that a real threat from quantum computers would not materialize until 2040.
Importantly, quantum computers could cripple the cryptocurrency industry, which is already actively preparing for appropriate safeguards. Fear is big, but it is based on facts. Advanced quantum computers will easily break today’s common encryption methods, risking paralysis of power grids or water systems.
Rebecca Krauthamer, CEO of QuSecure, rightly notes that this order moves security transformation from theory to hard practice. Moreover, the Department of State has been tasked with forcing allies to adopt the same standards worldwide.
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Source: Fortune.
