Chris Miller and Joshua Zoffer write in the Economist about the Trump administration’s approach to an important technological issue.
The Trump administration has deployed industrial-investment policies from loans to equity stakes across a range of industries. Most of these have focused on established sectors like lithium mines and rare-earth processing. But last month the Commerce Department announced investments to shape an industry that barely exists today: quantum computing. President Donald Trump followed this up on June 22nd with two executive orders mandating “a cohesive, whole-of-government approach to accelerate deployment and commercialisation” of the sector.
America’s government is investing $2bn in nine quantum-computing companies and will receive equity stakes in return. …
… The American government has an essential role to play in addressing supply-chain concentration, particularly when China uses its position for political leverage. China has repeatedly weaponised supply-chain chokepoints, most notably via a series of restrictions on critical minerals and magnets. Yet the past few years of efforts to recast supply chains show how hard and costly this is. Despite billions of dollars of government investment in chips and rare earths, these industries will take years to diversify.
In turning its attention to quantum computing, the Commerce Department is trying to avoid the mistakes America has made in other sectors. …
… So far, so good. But the reality is that the Trump administration’s investments in emerging tech sectors, viewed together, lack coherence. It may be doing the right things in quantum, but this stands in contrast to the lack of clarity behind investments in other spheres—not least the conflicting signals given out over possible investments in leading AI firms. This administration, as well as Joe Biden’s before it, has embraced industrial policy but lacks limiting principles. Without them, such efforts risk being scattershot, excessive or driven by politics and personal interest rather than national needs.
