IBM announced on June 2, 2026, its commitment to invest more than $10 billion in quantum computing over the next five years, in a move aimed at accelerating progress in the field and expanding the company’s capabilities in research and development, capital expenditure, manufacturing expansion, and supply chains, as well as building partnerships across the ecosystem and pursuing strategic acquisitions.
The investment comes on top of the company’s current roadmap, which includes plans to deliver the world’s first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in 2029. IBM says the new funding will strengthen its long-term commitment to quantum computing and support technology leadership centered in the United States.
Accelerating Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing
A fault-tolerant quantum computer is a system designed to operate correctly despite the presence of errors, as quantum bits, or qubits, are highly affected by their surrounding environment and exposed to problems such as decoherence and noise. Reliable operation depends on detecting and correcting these errors in real time.
IBM plans to launch the IBM Quantum Starling system in 2029, and says the system will be capable of executing 100 million quantum operations using 200 qubits. The investment will also enable the company to develop IBM Quantum Blue Jay, a system designed to execute one billion quantum operations on 2,000 qubits.
Funding Hardware, Software, and the Ecosystem
According to the company, the investment will be used to build the next generation of quantum hardware and open-source software, and to expand manufacturing and supply chains to suit the quantum computing era. It will also fund research beyond the current development roadmap, including the quantum internet and networked quantum computing.
IBM expects the expansion to support the U.S. quantum ecosystem through new jobs and additional partnerships with organizations active in the field. The company did not specify the amount allocated to each spending area in the material.
Potential Applications and Existing Adoption
Organizations working with IBM currently use quantum computing in areas including chemistry simulation, optimization, and financial services, while continuing to search for algorithms to address problems beyond the capabilities of any classical computer. The company believes that increasing the scale of quantum computing could support applications such as:
- Simulating molecules, including large proteins relevant to medical research.
- Optimizing complex networks such as power grids.
- Developing new approaches for financial services applications, such as portfolio optimization and algorithmic trading.
IBM says it currently operates the world’s largest fleet of quantum computers, with more than 90 systems deployed worldwide through cloud access and on-premises installations. These systems are used by a network of more than 340 organizations from industry, academia, healthcare, and government to run real-world workloads.
The company also points out that its open-source quantum software development kit, Qiskit, is preferred by nearly 70% of quantum computing developers. Through the IBM Quantum platform, IBM provides resources for learning, installing Qiskit, running a first quantum circuit, and using real quantum computers and systems exceeding 100 qubits.