Trump Signs Executive Order to Advance Quantum Computing
Welcome to the latest edition of "Quantum Leap" where The Fly decodes news and activity in the quantum computing space.EXECUTIVE ORDER:On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that directs the Office of Management and Budget and the National Cyber Director to lead an accelerated, nationwide migration to post-quantum cryptography, "ensuring our Nation and our data stay secure as quantum technology evolves," the White House announced. The order also directed the Department of Commerce, the National Security Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security to deliver "clear, practical guidance to agencies on effectuating and accelerating PQC migration" and directs agencies to designate a PQC migration lead and to transition high value assets for certain uses to PQC by 2030 and 2031 depending on the use case. The order directed the Department of Commerce to initiate a pilot project for PQC migration, to be completed by December 31, 2027, the White House added. President Trump signed an additional executive order to "supercharge U.S. innovation in quantum technologies and strengthen our national security in this critical area." That order directed the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, in coordination with other relevant government leaders, to update the National Quantum Strategy to support quantum-enabling technology and encourage partnerships with U.S. industry.Jefferies sees these executive orders as positive for the quantum computing industry, including names in the firm's coverage, IonQ, D-Wave Quantum, and Rigetti Computing. The firm views IonQ as best-positioned given exposure across nearly every pillar of the orders, followed by D-Wave given its proof-of-quantum algorithms for enhanced data security and then Rigetti. Jefferies has Buy ratings on the first two stocks and a Hold rating on Rigetti. The Department of Energy is directed to create a national benchmarking center within 180 days, which is a big deal given the industry has no widely accepted performance benchmark today, the firm told investors.QUANTUM STATION:Quantum Cyberunveiled Quantum Station, the company's purpose-built battlefield command-and-control platform engineered to serve as the central nervous system of multi-domain autonomous operations. The company said, "We intend to build AI and Autonomous features within our Quantum Station in order to eliminate human error when operating drones. We believe that the future of Drone warfare will need to be built this way."SPACE INITIATIVE:Infleqtionannounced the launch of America's Quantum Space Initiative. The initiative is designed to foster collaboration across industry, academia, and government to accelerate innovation, expand opportunities for quantum technologies in space, and strengthen U.S. leadership in next-generation technologies.INSIDER PURCHASES:Qtrex Quantumdisclosed that Dagi Ben-Noon, CEO of Qtrex, Tal Parnas, chairman of the company's board of directors, and members of the company's senior management team have informed Qtrex's board of directors of their intention to use personal funds to purchase up to an aggregate of 2M of the company's ordinary shares, no par value per share over the next 12 months from June 22, pursuant to and subject to applicable rules and regulations as well as the company's insider trading policy. The actual share purchases under the repurchase plan will commence following the release of the company's financial results for the period ending June 30 and will remain subject to applicable rules and regulations, the company's insider trading policy, blackout periods, reporting obligations and any applicable trading plan requirements.ALGORITHMS:Quantum X Labsreported the launch of a new integrated quantum computing program that combines the company's quantum algorithms for clinical trial data analysis, as part of its CliniQuantum platform, with its advanced Quantum Error Correction Decoder technology. The initiative is designed to maximize computational accuracy and reliability by using the company's quantum algorithm across multiple quantum computing environments combined with its decoder.PURCHASE ORDER:Quantum Computingnoted that it has received a purchase order and entered into a framework agreement with Planck Dynamics, a portfolio company of The Netherlands based defense technology investment firm NUNC Capital BV, to deploy QCi's NeuraWave photonic reservoir computer as a foundational platform for next-generation AI applications. Under the terms of the agreement, the customer has issued an initial purchase order for five NeuraWave systems, with delivery expected during 2026. The agreement also establishes a commercial framework designed to support scaled deployment of NeuraWave systems as end-user milestones are achieved and representing a potential aggregate program value in excess of $10M. Future purchase orders beyond the initial order are contingent upon the customer's achievement of specified program milestones and other customary conditions and, accordingly, are not guaranteed.EUROPEAN PATENT:Sealsqwas granted a divisional patent by the European Patent Office for its "Back-to-Physical" NFT technology, while its sister company, WISe.ART has become a hardware-authenticated art platform. "The 'Back-to-Physical' NFT technology is the foundational IP that enables Non-Fungible Tokens to be provisioned directly into secure semiconductor chips, creating an immutable, hardware-rooted link between a digital asset and a physical object," the company said.CRYOGENIC CHIP CARRIER:Qtrex produced a cryogenic chip carrier using its proprietary single-build AME process. The company said the achievement expands Qtrex's role within the quantum hardware stack into the processor-interface layer, demonstrating that the company's AME platform can address both signal transport and critical carrier-level functions around the quantum processor.ANALYST COMMENTARY:Northland raised the firm's price target on IonQ to $70 from $55 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The company's investor day on September 8 will likely make a strengthened case for IonQ being "the Broad Quantum Advantage winner," the analyst told investors.
