NIST Launches Center to Drive the Manufacture of Quantum Technologies

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced an agreement with SRI International, a nonprofit research and development institution, to help advance US quantum research, development, and manufacturing capabilities. Under the agreement, SRI is establishing the Quantum Manufacturing Engineering Center (QMEC) to accelerate the manufacturing of scalable, high-performance quantum components and systems to drive significant growth in the US quantum industry. NIST plans to make an initial investment of $20 million in the center’s activities.

The agreement advances the goals outlined in the Executive Order on Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation and is another important step in implementing NIST’s Strategy for American Technology Leadership in the 21st Century to accelerate the progress of critical and emerging technologies from development to adoption. This partnership with SRI provides a key platform to advance “the commercial readiness of quantum sensing and quantum-sensor manufacturing” by “supporting research and development pathways that advance quantum-enabling technologies and eliminate manufacturing barriers,” as called for in the June 22, 2026, executive order.

The partnership will leverage SRI International’s long-standing mission to transition emerging technologies to impactful commercial use. NIST expects the new QMEC to accelerate breakthroughs in research and engineering that remove engineering and manufacturing barriers and demonstrate market adoption.

The center will build on the partnership NIST and SRI began in 2019 to establish the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C). Today, QED-C 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. Through its engagement with QED-C and US quantum companies, NIST identified quantum manufacturing engineering as a critical gap in national efforts to develop a robust commercial quantum industry.

This agreement supports NIST’s plan to coordinate innovative research efforts to accelerate the development and deployment of critical technologies in areas of national priority. Building on its long history of public-private collaboration, NIST plans to use adaptive and flexible partnerships to develop, pilot, and implement new advances to establish US leadership and innovation in critical and emerging technologies such as AI, quantum information science and technology, and biotechnology.

Find out more about the digital transformation of industry, energy, and critical infrastructure.