The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced Friday that it will invest $100 million to build a nationwide network of up to 16 open-access research facilities that will advance quantum and nanoscale technologies and strengthen workforce development.
The new NSF National Quantum and Nanotechnology Infrastructure (NSF NQNI) program will support selected sites by providing funds ranging from $500,000 to $2 million each year, across a five-year period.
That funding can be used to provide students, researchers, and industry members with access to advanced fabrication and characterization tools, instrumentation, and expertise, according to NSF.
“Together, the sites will form a shared national resource serving regional innovation ecosystems, including community colleges and small businesses,” NSF said.
The NSF NQNI will also accelerate U.S. leadership in semiconductors, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, and other emerging technologies, according to NSF.
Letters of intent are due by March 16, and full proposals are due by May 14, the NSF said.
NSF said it plans to select eight to 16 sites, with the selection process based on facilities’ technical capabilities and instrumentation to “address current and anticipated user needs” across focus areas.
NSF said it will also take into account potential sites’ plans to open facilities and instrumentation for external use, education, training, outreach, and workforce development.
“In a later stage, NSF will select an NQNI Coordinating Office from among the Sites; the Coordinating Office will enhance and coordinate NQNI collective impacts that serve the Nation’s quantum and nanotechnology innovators,” NSF said.
While artificial intelligence and energy-related innovation have dominated technology priorities over the past year the technology sector can expect to see more quantum pushes this year, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Ethan Klein said earlier this month during an Information Technology Industry Council event.
Specifically, Klein said that the Trump administration plans to push quantum technologies beyond the research and development stage and toward early commercialized applications in 2026, calling quantum technologies a “potentially incredibly transformational area.”