Frankly, they had no other choice: public funding for quantum computing research is unacceptably low in the US. While China is funneling $10B into a single quantum lab [1], the US only spent $800M in the whole area for 2021 [2].

I fear that we're repeating the same mistake we made with Machine Learning funding. A decade ago, the US was quite clearly ahead of China in machine learning, but they're comparable now. In quantum information science, the US is currently ahead of China in terms of research. But will it remain that way?

For more information, here's a panel discussion on the quantum computing race between China and the US (I was quite frustrated by it):

https://youtu.be/KzFEeQ49HHI

[1] - https://english.ckgsb.edu.cn/knowledges/quantum-wars/

[2] - https://quantumcomputingreport.com/u-s-qis-budget-proposed-t...

HRL Laboratories is very active in the field (if you happened to catch them at APS March Meeting) and hasn't been public since their founding in the 60s. It's one of the most respected private research laboratories of the United States. (It's currently jointly owned by Boeing and General Motors, but enjoys decision-making autonomy.)

not all of them