The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology on Monday announced an agreement with SRI International to help advance domestic quantum research, development and manufacturing capabilities.
SRI, a nonprofit research and development institution, will establish the Quantum Manufacturing Engineering Center to “accelerate manufacturing of scalable, high-performance quantum components and systems to drive significant growth in the U.S. quantum industry,” NIST said in a news release.
“Quantum science promises to generate new knowledge and technologies that will supercharge scientific research and unlock enormous economic potential,” Deputy Secretary of Commerce Paul Dabbar said in a statement. The center “will bring together top experts to ensure both continued U.S. leadership in quantum technologies and that we are the epicenter of manufacturing quantum systems at scale to drive advances in sensing, communications, encryption, computing, biomedicine and other critical areas,” he said.
The agency plans to initially invest $20 million in the center’s activities to ensure the U.S. remains competitive in quantum technologies.
According to NIST, the center will help achieve goals outlined in President Donald Trump’s recent executive order updating the national quantum strategy.
The center will also advance NIST’s Strategy for American Technology Leadership. The strategy aims to promote the development and adoption of critical and emerging technologies in partnership with U.S. industries, NIST said.
The center will build on the earlier partnership NIST and SRI began in 2019 to establish the Quantum Economic Development Consortium, in response to the National Quantum Initiative Act. According to NIST, consortium participants include “essentially all major commercial developers of quantum technologies in the United States, as well as a large and growing number of end users.”
This is the latest effort on NIST’s part to advance technologies it deems critical for national security or the industrial base.
In June, it launched a Manufacturing Extension Partnership pilot program focused on accelerating the use of additive manufacturing for aerospace components and establishing a domestic critical minerals supply chain. However, the Trump Administration has proposed to eliminate the MEP over the objections of lawmakers from both parties, calling it “underperforming and unnecessary.”
In February, NIST also awarded $3.2 million to eight small businesses to support research and development related to quantum, artificial intelligence and medical diagnostics, among other other areas.
In December, the agency committed $20 million to strengthen AI in manufacturing. The agency said its investment would establish two centers focused on advancing the technology through a partnership with the nonprofit Mitre Corp.
