IBM shares climbed as much as 8.6% on Thursday, marking their largest intraday gain since January 29. The surge followed an announcement that the company will receive $1 billion in funding from the U.S. government to establish a wafer fabrication facility for producing quantum-grade superconducting wafers. Concurrently, IBM revealed plans to form a new subsidiary dedicated to quantum wafer manufacturing.

According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the department has signed nine letters of intent to provide a total of just over $2 billion in federal incentive funding under the CHIPS and Science Act.

Bloomberg Intelligence noted that the collaboration between IBM and the U.S. Department of Commerce is expected to provide a significant boost to IBM's quantum-related research and development efforts.

However, it added that the related business is unlikely to contribute meaningfully to sales for at least the next three to five years. Nevertheless, establishing a leading position in the quantum wafer sector could potentially give IBM an advantage over larger competitors such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.