President Donald Trump did not write the CHIPS and Science Act. His administration has nevertheless found a distinctly Trumpian way to use it: When taxpayers finance industrial risk, taxpayers should share in the upside.

On Sept. 8, the Commerce Department finalized $300 million in research and development support for D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, and Quantinuum. Each company will receive $100 million, and the federal government will take a minority stake in each. The Commerce Department had already described the broader initiative as a portfolio approach to American quantum leadership, with noncontrolling equity intended to improve the taxpayer’s return.