NEW YORK, May 21, 2026, 10:08 (EDT)
GlobalFoundries shares jumped 12.7% to $79.75 in Thursday morning trading, with volume already above 3.4 million shares, as investors moved into the stock after a fresh U.S. push into quantum-chip manufacturing. The Nasdaq-listed shares opened at $77.99 and touched $82.44, according to market data.
The move matters now because Washington is putting capital, not just policy language, behind quantum computing, a still-early technology that uses quantum bits rather than ordinary binary bits to tackle some calculations. For GlobalFoundries, a foundry — a company that makes chips designed by other companies — the funding adds a new growth angle beyond its core auto, communications, defense and data-center chip work.
GlobalFoundries said it launched Quantum Technology Solutions and that the U.S. Department of Commerce had entered a letter of intent to award it $375 million. The company said Commerce would also receive a strategic equity investment equal to about 1% ownership, while Chief Executive Tim Breen said the effort supports a “coordinated national push” to expand domestic manufacturing. GlobalFoundries Inc.
The broader tape was weaker. The Nasdaq was down 0.4% and the S&P 500 was off 0.31% in morning trading, while WTI crude traded above $100 a barrel and the 10-year Treasury yield was around 4.61%, a backdrop that usually does not help high-growth technology shares.
The competitive read is that GlobalFoundries is not alone in getting pulled into the quantum trade. IBM is set to receive $1 billion and plans a standalone quantum-chip foundry called Anderon, while GlobalFoundries’ $375 million piece ties it to the same domestic supply-chain push.
GlobalFoundries said the new unit will target quantum processor units, or QPUs, the chips that handle quantum bits, along with cryogenic CMOS, control chips built to work at extremely low temperatures. Chief Technology Officer Gregg Bartlett called quantum “at its inflection point,” and Chris Miller, a Tufts professor and author of Chip War, said the edge will go to countries that can “manufacture quantum hardware at scale.” GlobalFoundries Inc.
The stock already had a cleaner fundamental story than it did a year ago. GlobalFoundries reported first-quarter revenue of $1.634 billion, up 3% from a year earlier, non-IFRS diluted EPS of 40 cents and adjusted EBITDA of $561 million; it guided second-quarter revenue to $1.760 billion, plus or minus $25 million. Non-IFRS means adjusted figures that strip out items such as stock-based pay or restructuring costs, so investors can compare operating performance more easily.
Earlier this month, the company also told investors it would pay its first quarterly dividend, 12 cents a share, on July 14 to holders of record on June 24. It said it would target returning up to 50% of trailing 12-month non-IFRS adjusted free cash flow, after investments, through dividends and buybacks.
But the trade has a soft edge. Quantum computers still face major technical hurdles, including high error rates, and timelines for practical use vary widely; Reuters reported that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said last year that “very useful quantum computers” were likely two decades away. Other awardees, including D-Wave and Rigetti, also rose after the package, which means part of GlobalFoundries’ move may reflect a sector-wide rush rather than a company-specific earnings change. Reuters
For now, the market is treating GlobalFoundries less like a mature-node chip manufacturer and more like a strategic supplier to a government-backed technology race. That can lift a stock fast. It also leaves the next test where it usually is for foundries: converting announcements, awards and customer interest into shipped wafers, revenue and margin.
