Before the market opens, the momentum continues! The Trump administration's $20 billion layout triggers a "quantum wave", with quantum computing concept stocks like Infleqtion (INFQ.US) facing a short squeeze.

Attention, investors flocked into the sector as news of the US Department of Commerce's proposed funding to support quantum computing and domestic manufacturing initiatives under the Chip Act pushed quantum computing stocks sharply higher on Thursday. IBM (IBM.US), Rigetti Computing (RGTI.US), D-Wave Quantum (QBTS.US), Infleqtion (INFQ.US), and IonQ (IONQ.US) all saw gains ranging between 12% to 33% yesterday. Most related stocks continued to rise in pre-market trading on Friday, with the potential to extend Thursday's gains. As of the time of writing: IBM was up 3.6%, GlobalFoundries (GFS.US) was up 4.5%, D-Wave was up 5.9%, Rigetti was up 7.5%, and Infleqtion was up 7.8%. Despite the recent strong momentum, many quantum computing companies' stock prices for the year-to-date are still negative, with consistently high short interest and weak profitability ratings, highlighting the speculative nature of this sector. According to statistics, the short interest percentages are 22.4% for IonQ, 26.4% for Quantum Computing, 15.2% for Rigetti Computing, 14.2% for D-Wave Quantum, 9.3% for SEALSQ, 2.4% for IBM, 7.8% for Arqit Quantum (ARQQ.US), 1.9% for Infleqtion, and 1.81% for GlobalFoundries. Combining this with the recent strong upward momentum, these data suggest that a "short squeeze" scenario may be imminent. Skeptics believe that the industry still faces significant commercialization barriers, weak profitability, and uncertain timelines for widespread adoption. Despite intermittent market-driven rebounds, the quantitative ratings for many quantum computing companies remain weak, with Rigetti and Arqit Quantum both rated as "strong sell." A potential "short squeeze" scenario may be imminent. In general, when short positions are too concentrated and long forces continue to push up benchmark stock indices, a large number of short positions may be forced to cover, leading to a so-called "short squeeze" scenario - where bullish forces continuously drive upward momentum, forcing bears to close their positions. The Trump administration is currently making a major bet on the quantum computing industry. The US Department of Commerce announced on Thursday that the government will invest about $2 billion in equity funding in nine quantum computing companies to strengthen America's leading position in quantum technology. Analysts point out that as the demand for computing power continues to surge due to the AI boom, quantum computing is rapidly becoming a new frontier technology race that Wall Street is paying attention to. According to the statement from the US Department of Commerce, IBM Corp (IBM.US) will receive $1 billion in funding to establish a new company named "Anderon" specializing in the production of quantum computing chips. IBM stated that the new company will be located in New Albany, New York, and will become the first factory in the US dedicated to quantum chip manufacturing. However, the specific ownership stake of the US government in the new company has not been disclosed by the company. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna stated that Anderon will not only serve IBM itself in the future, but will also offer quantum chip manufacturing capabilities to external customers, and the company has already begun negotiations with potential clients. Meanwhile, GlobalFoundries will receive $375 million in funding to build a domestic factory in the US to produce components needed for quantum computing. GlobalFoundries revealed that the US government will hold approximately 1% of its shares and has established a new business unit called "Quantum Technology Solutions," focused on scaling up quantum hardware manufacturing. In addition to IBM and GlobalFoundries, the US Department of Commerce also stated that D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, and Infleqtion (INFQ.US) will each receive approximately $100 million in funding support. Additionally, Australian quantum company Diraq will receive up to $38 million in funding to address key technical challenges that limit the performance improvement of quantum computing.