The U.S. government announced a $2 billion investment across nine quantum computing companies last week, considered as part of efforts to shore up the domestic supply chain and counter China in crucial sectors. This included a new IBM venture. However, a member of the Congress is now arguing that these deals are illegal, since Congress did not allocate the money for this purpose. Rather, it was meant to support public research in semiconductors. Zoe Lofgren (D–Calif.), the ranking member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee said: “This announcement is illegal and troubling on so many levels,” one day after the announcement, pointing out that the money being used for the deal comes from the CHIPS and Science Act, which was passed during the Biden administration and was allocated “specifically for microelectronics R&D, with a focus on semiconductor technology.” READ: Biden administration to intensify restrictions on China’s access to AI chips (January 14, 2025) Lofgren said that this technology only overlaps partially with what’s used in quantum processors. She also mentioned that in addition, the money was allocated to foster public/private research partnerships, which these deals most decidedly are not. Finally, she noted that the largest sum of money will go to IBM, and she suggested that a former IBM executive (Dario Gil, current Under Secretary for Science at the Department of Energy) was involved in the negotiations that led to this deal. Lofgren added that none of this meant that quantum processing technology is a bad investment or that any of these companies are unworthy of support. She just argued that doing so would require Congress to allocate the money to do so. However, at this point it’s not clear how the deal can be stopped. While a lawsuit has been cited as the obvious answer, that would