The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced on June 29 that it has reached an agreement with SRI International to establish the Quantum Manufacturing Engineering Center (QMEC), a new initiative aimed at advancing U.S. quantum research, development, and manufacturing capabilities.
Under the agreement, SRI International, a nonprofit research and development institution, is establishing QMEC. NIST plans to make an initial $20 million investment in the center’s activities.
“The new Quantum Manufacturing Engineering 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,” said Deputy Secretary of Commerce Paul Dabbar.
The center will focus on accelerating the manufacturing of scalable, high-performance quantum components and systems to support growth in the U.S. quantum industry. NIST said QMEC is expected to advance research and engineering that remove manufacturing barriers and demonstrate market adoption.
NIST said the agreement advances goals in the June 22 executive order on quantum innovation, including improving “the commercial readiness of quantum sensing and quantum-sensor manufacturing.”
“This public-private partnership with SRI International will accelerate the development of America’s quantum industrial base – the foundation upon which the quantum revolution is being built,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Arvind Raman.
The center will build on the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), which NIST and SRI established in 2019 in response to the National Quantum Initiative Act. NIST said QED-C now includes “essentially all major commercial developers” of quantum technologies in the United States, along with a growing number of end users.
Through its work with QED-C and U.S. quantum companies, NIST said it identified quantum manufacturing engineering as a critical gap in national efforts to build a commercial quantum industry.