The U.S. National Science Foundation has launched an eight-institute expansion of its Quantum Leap Challenge program backed by a $290 million investment. The funding supports research teams across 19 states aiming to solve underlying hardware and architectural barriers in quantum computing, sensing, and communications.
The federal push, announced on August 25, includes three newly formed research groups alongside five established institutes receiving renewed backing. Each participating center will secure between about $28 and $37 million over a five-year lifecycle. The initiative traces its origins to the agency’s strategy to fulfill the 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act.
For more than four decades, NSF has been laying the foundational groundwork of research and discovery that is powering today's modern quantum computing, sensing and communication,
said Brian Stone, Performing the Duties of the NSF Director. “It’s time for focused activities to leverage that base of knowledge to drive us even farther forward to the benefit of all Americans. The NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes are a next step for us in understanding the quantum world we live in.”
Reinventing Core Hardware and Materials at Princeton and UC Berkeley
Behind the nationwide funding lies a stubborn manufacturing bottleneck. According to institute leaders, the quantum sector has relied on essentially identical materials technology for about a quarter of a century. While those components sufficed for academic test beds and experimental prototypes, scaling up requires basic hardware elements to be entirely rebuilt.
Princeton University is leading one of eight major initiatives to accelerate the development of quantum computing. The Princeton-led Quantum Leap Challenge Institute will devise techniques for fabricating hardware and develop education and workforce training programs that deepen U.S. leadership in quantum science and engineering. The research institute will gather experts from wide-ranging fields to break a single, critical bottleneck — the manufacture of core components for quantum processors. The Princeton-led institute will receive $27.9 million in NSF funding over five years, according to the agency. The research team harnesses expertise from three broad disciplines — materials science, quantum devices and semiconductor processing — spanning two dozen laboratories across nine research institutions.
The whole community has been using essentially the same materials technology for about a quarter century,
said Nathalie de Leon, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Princeton and co-director of the Princeton Quantum Initiative, who will direct the new institute. That technology has worked well for experimental prototypes and small-scale systems. But to build quantum computers at a scientifically useful scale, she said, the most basic elements must be reinvented.
There’s a huge barrier to solving the problem,” said Valla Fatemi, a physicist at Cornell University and the institute’s deputy director. “That’s why we need an institute like this, with all this multi-interdisciplinary expertise.
Meanwhile, on the West Coast, the renewal and expansion of the NSF CIQC represents a momentous event for the field of quantum science and for the quantum ecosystem in the state of California.
UC Berkeley’s position as a world leader in quantum research over the past century, as exemplified today by the NSF CIQC, was a large part of what drew me to relocate my research group here three years ago, and I am thrilled to now be joining NSF CIQC 2.0 as both a funded researcher and a member of the leadership team. This center enables and enhances large-scale academic collaboration on basic quantum research at a pivotal moment for the field, Shimon Kolkowitz
By linking leading quantum research teams and educational initiatives across the state of California, the NSF CIQC serves as the backbone of an integrated, statewide ecosystem. UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford University, and the California Institute of Technology are core research partners. The renewal of the NSF CIQC will feature several new initiatives. California State University San Marcos and Cal State East Bay will anchor plans to establish system-wide degree programs in quantum information science, and the Computer History Museum and Berkeley Oral History Center will document the history of quantum computing in real time as it unfolds.
State Co-Investments and Corporate Adoption in Connecticut
The NSF Engines program invests in regional ecosystems with the potential to drive economic growth through technological innovation. The QuantumCT proposal was chosen for funding from a field of 15 finalists following a highly competitive national selection process.
“New Haven is excited and proud to serve as the home of QuantumCT’s hub. New Haven has a long tradition of innovation and discovery, and today’s announcement helps position us at the forefront of the next technological revolution that will help provide new job opportunities for our residents, drive new economic growth for our city, and unlock new breakthroughs for our society at large,” said New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker. “New Haven is establishing itself as a regional and national hub for quantum research and innovation, and this award will help accelerate the growth of our quantum ecosystem and strengthen our leadership position in this exciting and rapidly growing field.”
As Connecticut’s flagship public university and the state’s land-grant institution, UConn takes pride in its leadership role within the QuantumCT Engine. Our university is home to more than 60 esteemed faculty members who are experts in the field of quantum science and will collaborate with Yale researchers to drive innovative advancements and groundbreaking discoveries in quantum research,” UConn President Radenka Maric said. “Over the past three years, we have been working hand-in-hand with our academic, state, industry, and community partners to position quantum technologies as a catalyst for economic development that will fu
Building Modular Networks and Fault-Tolerant Systems
Since 2020, the institutes have made major scientific strides in a range of areas, from finding new ways to make quantum computers to developing quantum sensors that could one day enable earlier detection of diseases. The institutes also serve as a productive nexus between scientists, federal science agencies, quantum technology companies and educational organizations.
Of the eight institutes, three are newly formed. The other five were established with previous NSF funding and will receive renewed funding from NSF to continue their work. Each institute will receive between about $28 and $37 million over five years and is helmed by researchers in quantum information science.
