The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will invest up to $625 million to renew its five National Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers.
The centers, which were established in 2020 and led by a DOE national laboratory, incorporates a collaborative team of labs, universities, and companies spanning a broad range of scientific and engineering disciplines, including over 1,500 experts across 115 academic, industry, and national science institutions in North America and Europe.
Each center tackles major challenges in QIS using complementary and co-design approaches to advance quantum computers, sensors, devices, materials, and applications.
Center activities include developing technologies for quantum computing, communication, and sensing to address complex scientific and national security challenges by prototyping and evaluating quantum computers and sensors, designing quantum algorithms, creating new quantum materials, and building the next generation of quantum workforce.
Total funding is $625 million for awards lasting up to five years in duration, with $125 million in Fiscal Year 2025 dollars and subsequent years contingent on congressional appropriations, the DOE said.
Center renewals include:
- Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA) – Brookhaven National Laboratory will advance quantum computing and sensing by improving materials used in superconducting and plasma-grown, diamond-based quantum devices and developing modular approaches for superconducting and neutral-atom systems.
- Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center (SQMS) – Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory will scale quantum devices based on superconducting microwave cavities, developing new methods of refrigeration and technologies for connecting many quantum processors to lay the groundwork for quantum data centers.
- Q-NEXT – Argonne National Laboratory will advance algorithms and chip components to scale quantum operations on the same chip and across different labs and cities, preserving entanglement and prototyping next-generation quantum sensors.
- Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA) – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will enable large-scale quantum computers through improved error correction using neutral atom, ion, and superconducting circuits to tackle DOE grand challenges in fundamental physics, chemistry, and emergent quantum phenomena.
- Quantum Science Center (QSC) – Oak Ridge National Laboratory will pioneer quantum-accelerated high-performance computing, developing open-source software for quantum-classical workflows that accelerate scientific advancements across multiple disciplines.
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