Policy Framework

National Policy Framework
for Quantum Technology

A Comprehensive Federal Strategy to Secure American Quantum Leadership.

June 2026Three PillarsAmerica Quantum
Contents

How the framework reads.

Ten sections across three pillars — Innovation, Infrastructure, and International Leadership. Jump to any section.

  1. Executive Summary

    The argument in brief — a national mobilization is underway; this framework turns it into an executable strategy.

  2. The Strategic Imperative

    Why coordinated industrial primacy now: China’s state-directed investment and the four interlocking technology domains.

  3. The Federal Foundation

    Programs already in motion — Genesis Mission, the $2.013B CHIPS quantum portfolio, DARPA QBI, NSF NQNI, NQIA Reauthorization.

  4. Pillar I · Accelerate Innovation

    R&D leadership, AI–quantum convergence, and a regulatory environment built for the quantum era.

  5. Pillar II · Build Infrastructure

    Domestic manufacturing, regional ecosystems, the state-by-state landscape, and the quantum workforce pipeline.

  6. Pillar III · Lead Internationally

    Export controls, allied partnerships under QDG, and post-quantum cryptography migration.

  7. Cross-Cutting Priorities

    Public-private coordination architecture and the AI–quantum integration framework.

  8. Path Forward

    Implementation priorities from June 2026 through 2033 — immediate, near-term, medium-term, long-term.

  9. Conclusion

    The moment for decisive action is now.

  10. Sources & References

    Citations and underlying source material.

I.

Executive Summary

The United States is at an inflection point in the global race for quantum leadership. Over the past twelve months, federal action has accelerated dramatically: the Department of Energy launched the Genesis Mission, the Department of Commerce signed $2.013 billion in CHIPS Act quantum manufacturing letters of intent, DARPA expanded its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative to assess every viable pathway to a utility-scale quantum computer by 2033, the Senate Commerce Committee and House Science Committee both advanced the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2026, and NSF launched a $100 million National Quantum and Nanotechnology Infrastructure program. These are not incremental measures. They represent the architecture of a national mobilization.

This National Policy Framework for Quantum Technology translates that mobilization into a coherent, executable strategy. It is organized around three pillars—Innovation, Infrastructure, and International Leadership—that mirror the structure of America’s AI Action Plan and the White House’s National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence. A coordinated federal framework treats quantum and AI as synergistic technologies, rather than competing priorities.

The framework addresses four dimensions that existing federal policy does not yet fully integrate: the role of regional quantum ecosystems from Illinois to Tennessee to New Mexico; the capital-formation gap between federal research grants and late-stage commercial investment; the industrial base requirements for domestic quantum manufacturing; and the workforce pipeline required to sustain quantum leadership across a generation. It incorporates the programs already in motion and identifies the gaps that a complete national strategy must fill.

The most significant constraint on U.S. quantum competitiveness is no longer scientific. The foundational research base is world-class. The constraint is translational—the set of financing, manufacturing, workforce, and coordination mechanisms required to convert laboratory results into industrial-scale quantum systems. This framework addresses that constraint directly.

I

Accelerate Innovation

R&D leadership, DARPA QBI, DOE Genesis Mission, NSF NQNI.

II

Build Infrastructure

$2B CHIPS manufacturing, regional ecosystems, workforce.

III

Lead Internationally

Export controls, standards, allied partnerships.

Cross-Cutting: Public-private coordination and AI–Quantum integration.

II.

The Strategic Imperative

The jurisdictions that build durable commercial and industrial capacity in quantum over the next decade will set the technical standards, control the supply chains, and capture the economic returns of the next platform of digital infrastructure. The United States entered this decade with the leading research ecosystem in the world. Sustaining that lead requires moving from research primacy to commercial and industrial primacy.

A.China’s State-Directed Investment

China’s commitment to quantum technology has transitioned from research subsidy to coordinated industrial policy. In March 2025, the central government launched a 1 trillion yuan (approximately $138 billion) government-backed venture fund encompassing quantum as a priority sector. China’s 2025 central budget allocates approximately $55 billion for science and technology—a 10% year-over-year increase—with quantum identified alongside semiconductors and AI. The National Venture Guidance Fund has allocated RMB 121.8 billion across three regional quantum funds with distinct mandates in computing, photonics, and communications infrastructure. Chinese quantum sector financing in the first quarter of 2026 alone reached CNY 2.2 billion, approaching the full-year 2025 total.

China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) designates quantum technology as a new economic growth point, marking the transition from subsidized research to national industrial policy at scale. The United States is not required to match this expenditure dollar-for-dollar. It is required to ensure its substantially larger private capital base flows efficiently to its quantum ecosystem, and that its federal programs produce coordination rather than fragmentation.

B.The Technology Landscape

Quantum technology encompasses four interrelated domains, each with distinct commercial and national-security implications and distinct timelines for deployment:

Computing
Quantum Computing
Commercial systems with increasing qubit counts and higher fidelities are exploding across superconducting, trapped-ion, neutral-atom, and photonic architectures. The field has advanced from NISQ-era research toward early fault-tolerant architectures. DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative takes on the critical role of assessing whether any architecture can reach utility-scale operation by 2033.
Sensing
Quantum Sensing & Metrology
The most near-term revenue segment. Commercially deployed in navigation, defense, medical imaging, and subsurface exploration, offering order-of-magnitude precision improvements over classical instruments.
Communications
Quantum Communications & Networking
Quantum key distribution is operational in limited deployments. NSF’s QuantumGrid project in Chattanooga tests quantum signals within existing fiber-optic infrastructure as a blueprint for the first commercially available quantum network. In April 2026, Florida LambdaRail and IonQ announced the first statewide quantum-safe corridor in the United States — a production-grade QKD deployment on FLR’s 1,540-mile live research-fiber footprint, opening with a Palm Beach to Miami-Dade phase.
Infrastructure
Enabling Infrastructure
Cryogenics, photonics, specialized semiconductor fabrication, control electronics, and error-correction software constitute an industrial base without which none of the above can scale. The $2.013B CHIPS Act quantum investment addresses this layer directly.
“The CHIPS R&D Office is taking a portfolio approach to ensure the United States maintains leadership across multiple quantum modalities simultaneously.”
— U.S. Department of Commerce, May 2026
III.

The Federal Foundation: Programs Already in Motion

The federal investment architecture for quantum has changed substantially since 2024. The following programs constitute the operational foundation on which this framework builds.

A.DOE Genesis Mission

In early 2026, the Department of Energy launched the Genesis Mission—a program to organize AI and quantum computing investments around specific outcome-oriented challenges rather than open-ended research. Led by DOE Under Secretary for Science Dario Gil, the Genesis Mission encompasses quantum computing as an emerging component of a unified scientific computing platform that integrates classical HPC, AI accelerators, and quantum processors.

The Mission’s quantum-relevant activities include: the Lux AI cluster deploying at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2026 under partnership with AMD, targeting fusion, materials, quantum, and advanced manufacturing challenges; the long-term Discovery system (HPE, AMD) due 2028 that will chart convergence of HPC, AI, and quantum; and the American Science Cloud, linking DOE’s computing and experimental facilities into a secure, science-optimized environment. NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams has stated that the Genesis Mission will leverage “AI, quantum computing, and advanced data analytics” to strengthen deterrence and maintain U.S. strategic advantage.

In March 2026, DOE announced $293 million in funding for Genesis Mission collaborators to address specific science and technology challenges across its national laboratories, with quantum identified as a lighthouse problem area.

B.Commerce CHIPS Quantum Manufacturing Awards

On May 21, 2026, the Department of Commerce announced letters of intent to provide $2.013 billion in CHIPS Act incentives to nine companies to accelerate domestic quantum manufacturing. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated that the investments “will build on our domestic industry, creating thousands of high-paying American jobs while advancing American quantum capabilities.” The portfolio approach spans multiple qubit modalities and is designed to address the most consequential unresolved engineering problems in each.

IBM (Anderon)
$1 billion
Superconducting quantum wafer foundry (Albany, NY)
GlobalFoundries
$375 million
Quantum Technology Solutions manufacturing scale-up
Atom Computing
$100 million
Neutral-atom hardware & systems integration
D-Wave
$100 million
Annealing & gate-model quantum systems
Infleqtion
$100 million
Neutral-atom; quantum sensing & networking
PsiQuantum
$100 million
Photonic quantum; fault-tolerant architecture
Quantinuum
$100 million
Trapped-ion; highest accuracy two-qubit gate fidelity
Rigetti
$100 million
Superconducting; cryostat & readout integration
Diraq
$38 million
Silicon-spin qubit architecture

The Department will hold a minority, non-controlling equity stake in each company as a condition of funding—a model consistent with mid-2025 industrial policy precedents across semiconductors, critical minerals, and defense. The awards address multiple modalities including neutral atom, silicon-spin, superconducting, photonic, and trapped ion, and the most consequential unresolved engineering problems including device reproducibility, error rates, cryogenic systems integration, and interconnects.

C.DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative

DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), launched in 2024, is the most rigorous federal program for separating viable quantum architectures from aspirational ones. QBI seeks to determine whether any quantum computing architecture can achieve utility-scale operation—defined as computational value exceeding cost—by 2033. The program operates through a three-stage framework: Stage A (architecture feasibility), Stage B (detailed R&D and risk validation), and Stage C (independent verification of hardware).

As of the most recent public announcement, eleven companies have advanced to Stage B. In March 2026, DARPA expanded QBI with a new Stage A solicitation (DARPA-PA-26-02) specifically targeting distinct and underexplored architectures not yet evaluated under the program. Full proposals are due September 30, 2026. The parallel HARQ (Heterogeneous Architectures for Quantum) program has engaged 19 performer teams across 15 organizations to develop software and hardware frameworks enabling different quantum technologies to interoperate within a single system.

QBI serves a function beyond technical validation: it provides credible, government-verified signals to private investors about which architectures merit capital. That signal function is as important to the capital formation ecosystem as the technical outputs.

D.NSF Quantum Programs

NSF has deployed a layered quantum investment strategy across infrastructure, regional ecosystems, and workforce:

  • NSF NQNI — National Quantum & Nanotechnology Infrastructure

    Launched in 2026, this $100M program creates a nationwide network of 16 university-hosted, open-access sites for quantum manufacturing and workforce training. It expands the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure to include specialized fabrication and characterization needs of Quantum Information Science and Engineering.

  • NSF Regional Innovation Engines

    Authorized under CHIPS and Science Act. Up to $160M over ten years to regional quantum innovation coalitions. Quantum Connected (Chicago Quantum Exchange — Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana) is a finalist for the second Engines competition. QuantumGrid in Chattanooga, Tennessee tests quantum signals in existing fiber-optic infrastructure. Each Engine receives a total of $60M over five years.

  • NSF National Quantum Virtual Laboratory (NQVL)

    In design stage; will provide remote access to specialized quantum hardware and software resources to researchers anywhere in the U.S., removing geographic barriers to participation in the quantum economy.

E.National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2026

On April 14, 2026, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously advanced S. 3597, the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2026, with bipartisan sponsorship including Senators Young, Cantwell, Daines, Blackburn, Luján, Durbin, Rounds, Budd, Baldwin, and Schumer. The bill extends NQI through December 2034; establishes new NIST quantum sensing centers and NSF Multidisciplinary Centers for Quantum Research and Education; creates a Manufacturing USA institute for quantum manufacturing; directs a plan to address the commercialization valley of death; and establishes a national strategy for federal post-quantum cryptographic migration. On April 29, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology passed a House version of the bill (H.R.8462). That bill now awaits a vote by the full House of Representatives. This legislation is the research and policy backbone on which this framework’s commercialization and infrastructure pillars build.

Pillar I
I

Accelerate Quantum Innovation

American quantum research is the foundation of national leadership. Sustaining and extending that foundation requires coordinated federal investment in frontier science, rigorous validation of hardware pathways, and the removal of structural barriers that prevent research from reaching commercial scale.

A.Research and Development Investment

  • Genesis Mission — sustain and significantly expand DOE quantum funding

    Direct the Genesis Mission’s quantum computing challenge to include fault-tolerant system development and on-premises deployment, hybrid quantum-classical architectures, and quantum algorithm development for chemistry, materials, and cryptanalysis. Ensure ORNL, Argonne, Brookhaven, and Lawrence Berkeley remain central nodes.

  • DARPA — expand QBI and complementary programs

    Provide supplemental funding for the full Stage B and Stage C evaluation pipeline. Establish a QBI-to-commercialization pathway connecting Stage C graduates with CHIPS R&D Office funding and private capital via structured co-investment. Expand HARQ to develop interoperability standards for heterogeneous quantum systems.

  • NQAAI — National Quantum Algorithm & Applications Institute

    Co-funded by DOE, NSF, and DoD, the Institute develops and validates quantum algorithms for high-value applications — drug discovery, materials simulation, optimization, cryptanalysis — serving as the bridge between hardware maturation and commercial deployment. Builds on the National Quantum Algorithm Center jointly funded by IBM and the State of Illinois. Universities, national laboratories, and private companies participate under a consortium model.

B.Quantum–AI Convergence

Quantum and artificial intelligence are convergent technologies, not competing ones. AI is presently essential to quantum hardware development: qubit control optimization, error mitigation, circuit compilation, and algorithm design all rely on machine learning techniques. Quantum systems, in turn, offer the prospect of meaningful acceleration for specific machine-learning workloads.

  • Convergence R&D

    Direct NSF, DOE, and DARPA to prioritize quantum-AI convergence research — AI-assisted error correction, ML-driven qubit characterization, quantum-enhanced optimization for AI training. Federal funding announcements should explicitly require disclosure of quantum-AI interdependencies in proposed research plans.

  • Data Alignment

    Align Genesis Mission quantum challenges with AI Action Plan scientific dataset priorities. Quantum simulation data — molecular structure, materials properties, error correction performance — constitutes a national strategic asset. Require federally funded quantum research to produce and release AI-ready datasets.

C.Regulatory Environment for Quantum Innovation

  • Quantum Regulatory Sandbox

    Consistent with the AI Action Plan’s recommendation for AI sandboxes, create a dedicated quantum regulatory sandbox within NIST in coordination with sector regulators. Quantum companies developing sensing, networking, and computing applications in regulated sectors — healthcare, finance, energy — face unnecessary friction from regulations not designed for quantum systems.

  • NIST Standards Leadership

    NIST has already driven post-quantum cryptography standardization to completion. Expand its quantum mission to include interoperability standards for quantum networks, performance benchmarks for quantum sensing applications, and conformity assessment frameworks for quantum computing systems offered in regulated markets.

Federal R&D Instruments

  • DOE Genesis Mission ($293M+ round)
  • DARPA QBI (11 Stage B performers)
  • DARPA HARQ (19 performers, 15 orgs)
  • NSF NQNI ($100M, 16 sites)
  • NSF National Quantum Virtual Laboratory
  • NIST PQC Standards

Legislative Foundation

  • NQIA Reauthorization Act of 2026 (S. 3597 & H.R. 8462)
  • CHIPS and Science Act (quantum R&D)
  • NQI original authorization
  • DOE Quantum Leadership Act of 2025 ($2.5B)
  • National Defense Authorization Acts (quantum provisions)
  • Quantum Cybersecurity Preparedness Act
Pillar II
II

Build American Quantum Infrastructure

The infrastructure layer—manufacturing, regional ecosystems, workforce, and physical testbeds—is where American quantum leadership becomes self-sustaining. Federal research investment that cannot translate into domestic manufacturing and commercially deployable systems serves a competitor’s supply chain as readily as it serves American industry.

A.Domestic Quantum Manufacturing

  • Execute the $2.013B CHIPS Act quantum portfolio

    The May 2026 letters of intent with nine companies represent the largest coordinated federal quantum manufacturing investment in U.S. history. Negotiate and execute definitive agreements with all nine companies on an accelerated timeline. Prioritize U.S.-based fabrication, U.S. workforce requirements, and defined technology licensing restrictions to allied nations only.

  • Anderon foundry as shared infrastructure

    IBM’s Anderon quantum wafer foundry at Albany NanoTech — capitalizing a 300-millimeter superconducting quantum chip facility with $1B in CHIPS incentives and $1B in IBM capital — establishes the model for a U.S.-based, multi-vendor quantum foundry. Ensure Anderon’s foundry services are accessible to other CHIPS recipients under commercially reasonable terms.

  • Quantum Manufacturing USA Institute

    Authorized in the NQIA Reauthorization Act, this Institute develops process technologies, quality standards, and workforce competencies for quantum hardware fabrication — cryogenic systems, photonic integration, ion trap assembly, quantum-grade materials — at industrial scale. Co-locate with existing Manufacturing USA institutes where supply chain adjacencies exist.

  • Isotope and materials supply chain

    Quantum hardware depends on isotopically purified materials — silicon-28, Barium-137, and enriched helium-3 for cryogenics (among others) — that are not produced at sufficient scale or with sufficient supply chain security in the United States. Direct DOE and Commerce to assess domestic production capacity and gaps, and develop a supply chain resilience plan consistent with NQIA Reauthorization’s commercialization valley of death directive.

B.Regional Quantum Ecosystems

The Emerging State Quantum Landscape

One of the most significant and underappreciated developments in American quantum policy is the emergence of state-led quantum initiatives operating in parallel to—and largely disconnected from—federal programs. A growing number of states have committed serious capital, legislative attention, and institutional resources to positioning themselves as quantum hubs. The strategic opportunity, and the risk, is the same: absent a coordinating federal architecture, these state investments will produce fragmentation rather than a national ecosystem. With one, they compound into an American advantage that no single state or federal program could achieve alone.

America Quantum — americaquantum.org — is the emerging federal-level framework designed to align the country’s state-led quantum initiatives. Its mission is to connect regional centers of excellence, university research, and emerging industry into a single national network, ensuring that progress made across the states compounds into a unified American advance. The initiative organizes around three pillars: research alignment (a shared national research agenda linking state laboratories, universities, and federal programs), workforce pipeline (coordinated K–12, technical, and graduate pathways), and industry acceleration (a federated marketplace connecting state quantum hubs with private capital and commercial deployment).

Founding state partners currently include Florida Quantum, TN Quantum, Arizona Quantum, and Hawai‘i Quantum, with additional states in development. The framework represents the kind of coordination infrastructure that a national quantum strategy requires—and that federal agencies have not yet built on their own.

State-by-State Profiles

The Quantum Proving Ground
Illinois

Illinois has made the largest and most structured state-level quantum commitment in the country. Governor Pritzker’s FY2025 budget allocated $500 million in state investment to fund quantum research and build a quantum campus, and the state signed a Memorandum of Agreement with DARPA to establish Illinois as the site for the Quantum Proving Ground — a program in which quantum computing prototypes are tested and evaluated as part of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. Illinois committed $140 million in matching funds for the Proving Ground.

The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP) — planned for the 128-acre long-vacant South Works steel mill site in South Chicago — represents the physical anchor of this strategy. Illinois also hosts two of the five National Quantum Information Science Research Centers, led by Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in affiliation with the University of Chicago, each receiving $115 million in federal funding. The state invested $200 million in the Chicago Quantum Exchange as part of its Rebuild Illinois capital program. In July 2025, Infleqtion announced a $50 million neutral atom quantum technology program anchored in Illinois.

The Illinois model — state capital investment matched to federal programs matched to private industry anchors — is the most developed template for federal-state quantum co-investment in the country.

Capital of Quantum
Maryland

In January 2025, Governor Wes Moore, the University of Maryland, and IonQ announced the "Capital of Quantum" Initiative — a landmark public-private partnership aimed at catalyzing $1 billion in investments. The state earmarked $52.5 million in the FY2026 budget, with IonQ establishing a 100,000 sq ft corporate headquarters in the University of Maryland’s Discovery District.

In April 2026, IonQ and the University of Maryland expanded their partnership through the National Quantum Laboratory (QLab), a multi-year $7.5M agreement extending joint efforts in quantum computing, networking, and workforce development. Maryland’s advantage is structural: IonQ’s headquarters, the University of Maryland’s deep quantum research tradition (one of the birthplaces of the field), proximity to NSA, NIST, and DARPA, and a governor who has treated quantum as a signature economic priority.

Optics, Semiconductors & the Phoenix Quantum Strategy
Arizona

Arizona Quantum — arizonaquantum.org, a founding partner of the America Quantum framework — is a statewide initiative bringing together Arizona’s research, education, and industry ecosystems to lead in quantum technology and workforce development, with particular strength in optics, semiconductors, and quantum sensing built on Arizona’s photonics corridor and federal laboratory relationships.

The University of Arizona’s Arizona Quantum Initiative (AQuI) is projected to generate $220 million in regional economic impact, drawing on $22 million in annual public and private investment, $77 million in labor income, and $20 million in tax revenues. AQuI builds on the NSF-sponsored Center for Quantum Networks (CQN), which is poised for a $24.6 million five-year extension.

In April 2026, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego announced the Phoenix Quantum Strategy during her State of the City address, tasking Arizona State University — led by former NSF Director Sethuraman "Panch" Panchanathan — to anchor a quantum computing, communications, and sensing initiative for the metropolitan region. The city framed the initiative around Phoenix’s semiconductor infrastructure, CHIPS Act manufacturing investments, and growing network of advanced technology suppliers.

QuantumGrid, ORNL & Lab–Industry–Academic Coordination
Tennessee

Tennessee’s quantum assets are among the most significant in the country — and the most undercelebrated at the state policy level. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is one of the premier quantum computing research institutions in the federal system, and the ORNL–DOE relationship anchors the state’s claim to national relevance.

NSF’s QuantumGrid project in Chattanooga tests quantum signals within existing underground fiber-optic infrastructure, creating a blueprint for the first commercially available quantum network and computing center — a model for quantum networking deployment that requires no greenfield infrastructure investment. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s recently announced Knoxville Quantum Accelerator adds another institutional node.

National Laboratories as Anchor
New Mexico

New Mexico’s quantum assets are concentrated in federal infrastructure rather than state-level programs: Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory constitute two of the most important quantum research institutions in the country, with capabilities in quantum sensing, post-quantum cryptography, and nuclear-relevant quantum simulation that no private institution can replicate. Senator Luján’s sustained NQIA Reauthorization engagement makes New Mexico a natural federal champion for laboratory-anchored quantum ecosystem development.

New Mexico’s State Legislature has allocated over $200 million to quantum initiatives. The state coordination challenge is different from Illinois or Maryland: it is not a question of state capital commitment but of translating federal laboratory presence into a commercial quantum ecosystem in Albuquerque that can attract private companies, workforce, and capital.

Photonics, Space Coast & the America Quantum Framework
Florida

Florida Quantum is a founding partner of the America Quantum framework, with a focus on photonic and atomic quantum systems anchored by the Space Coast and a statewide university research network. Florida’s quantum strengths are real: its photonics industry cluster, proximity to NASA and the Space Force, the D-Wave quantum system at Florida Atlantic University, and IonQ’s quantum networking engagement with LambdaRail.

NIST Boulder & the Research Anchor
Colorado

Colorado’s quantum ecosystem centers on NIST’s Boulder campus — one of the most important quantum metrology and standards institutions in the world — and a dense university cluster including CU Boulder, Colorado State, and the Colorado School of Mines.

The Coordination Gap — and How to Close It

The state initiatives described above share a common structural problem: they are parallel programs without a common architecture. Illinois has matched DARPA. Maryland has matched IonQ. Arizona has matched its universities and the CHIPS Act semiconductor foundation. Tennessee has ORNL but limited state-level quantum policy infrastructure. Each state is playing a different game with different federal counterparts and different private sector partners.

The result is a fragmented national ecosystem at precisely the moment when coherence is most valuable. China’s regional quantum fund model—three funds with distinct mandates in computing, photonics, and communications, coordinated through the National Venture Guidance Fund—is not a coincidence. It is a deliberate architecture for distributed specialization within a unified national strategy. The United States has the raw material for exactly that architecture. It lacks the coordinating layer.

Recommended Policy Actions
  • Formalize America Quantum as a federal coordination vehicle

    The America Quantum framework at americaquantum.org provides the organizational model. The National Quantum Coordination Office within OSTP should formally recognize America Quantum as the primary interface for state quantum initiative coordination and provide it with a federal liaison function — not administrative authority, but information sharing, program alignment, and joint planning.

  • Establish a Federal–State Quantum Co-Investment Program at EDA

    The Economic Development Administration’s Tech Hubs program provides the model. Create a dedicated Quantum Co-Investment Program in which states with documented federal quantum infrastructure (national laboratories, NQNI sites, QBI performers, CHIPS manufacturing award recipients) can access EDA matching funds for state quantum ecosystem investments.

  • Differentiated federal engagement by state ecosystem type

    Laboratory-anchored states (New Mexico, Tennessee, Colorado) need federal support for laboratory-to-commercial translation. Industry-anchored states (Maryland, Illinois, Arizona) need federal co-investment that scales private commitments. Emerging states (Florida, Hawai‘i, and others joining America Quantum) need technical assistance and structured pathways into NSF Engines and NQNI.

  • Annual Federal–State Quantum Investment Map

    Direct the National Quantum Coordination Office to produce a map identifying, for each state: active federal programs, state-level commitments, private industry anchors, national laboratory relationships, workforce pipeline status, and identified gaps. Use it to drive program targeting decisions across DOE, NSF, DARPA, Commerce, and EDA.

  • State Quantum Champions network

    Within the NQI Subcommittee on Quantum Information Science. State quantum initiative leaders currently have no formal channel to federal program offices. Create a biannual convening that brings state quantum leads together with NSF, DOE, DARPA, and Commerce program managers.

  • Quantum workforce portability via America Quantum

    A quantum technician trained at Illinois’s IQMP should have credentials recognized at Arizona’s AQuI or Tennessee’s ORNL-adjacent pipeline. Direct NIST and DOL to develop, with America Quantum’s state partners, a national quantum workforce credential framework whose portability is built into the design.

“The future quantum economy won’t be built in one place. It will emerge through a network of specialized nodes — regions that each contribute a critical piece of the puzzle.”

C.Workforce Development

Quantum leadership is as much dependent on human capital as it is on infrastructure and technological breakthroughs. The United States needs quantum engineers, physicists, computer scientists, and technicians at a scale that current educational pipelines cannot deliver. The gap is acute at the technician and early-career engineer levels—the workforce that fabricates, operates, and maintains quantum hardware.

  • AI–Quantum workforce integration

    Extend the AI Action Plan’s Empower American Workers framework — apprenticeships, CTE programs, AI literacy — to quantum-adjacent competencies: cryogenics operation, photonics fabrication, quantum software development, and PQC implementation.

  • NSF Quantum Graduate Research Fellowships

    Increase NSF GRFs designated for quantum information science, with emphasis on underrepresented institutions and geographies. Establish a co-supervision requirement linking academic fellows to national laboratory mentors at ORNL, Argonne, Sandia, and Lawrence Berkeley.

  • Community college quantum technician pipelines

    Create a Quantum Technician Training Initiative connecting NQNI open-access fabrication sites with regional community colleges. Develop a stackable credential pathway from associate degree to quantum hardware technician qualification.

  • Quantum-Ready Workforce credential

    Modeled on existing DOL apprenticeship frameworks, develop an industry-validated credential covering core competencies in quantum hardware operation, PQC implementation, and quantum software development. Private companies that hire credentialed graduates would receive workforce training tax credits.

“Securing America’s place at the forefront of science and technology requires growing innovation capacity everywhere so that we can, in turn, aggressively accelerate the pace of development of key technologies.”
— NSF Director, Regional Innovation Engines announcement
Pillar III
III

Lead in International Quantum Diplomacy & Security

Quantum leadership is not solely a domestic policy question. The standards that govern quantum networking interoperability, the export controls that determine which technologies reach adversaries, the diplomatic frameworks that define allied access to U.S. quantum systems—these are foreign policy and national security decisions that will shape quantum competition for decades.

A.Export Controls & Technology Security

  • Accelerate quantum export control rulemaking at Commerce and State

    Current frameworks do not adequately distinguish between quantum hardware, enabling components, and software applications. Convene a dedicated Quantum Export Control Working Group under BIS with representation from DOE, DoD, NSC, and the intelligence community. Produce a quantum-specific control list annex covering cryogenic systems, ion trap components, photonic integrated circuits, and quantum-grade materials including isotopically enriched silicon. Apply the Foreign Direct Product Rule to quantum manufacturing tools with demonstrated adversary potential.

  • Strengthen quantum IP protections

    All CHIPS Act recipients should be subject to quantum-specific IP protection provisions preventing technology transfer to adversary nations. Establish a Quantum IP Security Review within the CFIUS framework to assess quantum-relevant transactions.

B.Allied Quantum Partnerships

  • Expand the Quantum Development Group (QDG)

    The QDG (U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, and the Republic of Korea) should be expanded to include other allied nations to share foundational research partnerships and security frameworks. A formal Quantum Infrastructure Consortium under QDG would coordinate quantum network interoperability, share error correction research, and develop allied QKD standards that preclude adversary access.

  • Export American quantum standards to allies and partners

    Consistent with the AI Action Plan’s objective to export American AI as the gold standard, direct NIST, State, and Commerce to develop a Quantum Standards Diplomacy program. Prioritize bilateral agreements with Japan (NTT, Toshiba), Germany (Fraunhofer), and South Korea (ETRI). Prevent the adoption of Chinese quantum communications protocols — particularly QKD standards promoted through ITU — in partner nation networks.

  • Counter adversary influence in international quantum governance

    China has actively promoted its quantum communications standards in the International Telecommunication Union. The U.S. must engage ITU, ISO, and IEC with the same coordinated approach it brings to AI governance bodies. Fund a dedicated quantum standards engagement team at NIST’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI).

C.Post-Quantum Cryptography Migration

Post-quantum cryptography migration is not a future concern. It is a present obligation. NIST completed its first set of PQC standards in 2024. Federal systems are mandated to migrate. The commercial and critical infrastructure migration is underway but fragmented.

  • Accelerate federal PQC migration under NSM-10 successor authority

    An amendment from Senator Blackburn to the Senate’s NQIA Reauthorization directs a national strategy for federal PQC migration. Direct OMB and CISA to produce quarterly migration progress reports and establish agency accountability metrics. Agencies that fail to meet PQC migration milestones should face IT procurement restrictions.

  • Critical Infrastructure PQC Migration Fund

    The financial sector, energy grid, and healthcare infrastructure require PQC migration but face different regulatory frameworks and cost structures than federal agencies. Establish a $500M Critical Infrastructure PQC Migration Fund administered by CISA and Treasury, providing co-investment for sector-wide migration planning and implementation.

  • Address Harvest-Now-Decrypt-Later (HNDL) threat intelligence

    Adversaries are harvesting encrypted communications today for decryption when cryptographically relevant quantum computers become available. Direct the IC to produce an unclassified assessment of current HNDL collection activities by adversary nations, and use it to prioritize PQC migration for the most sensitive categories of government and commercial communications.

VII.

Cross-Cutting Priorities

A.Public–Private Coordination Architecture

Effective quantum policy requires sustained, structured engagement between federal agencies, private companies, academic institutions, and national laboratories. The current coordination landscape is fragmented across OSTP, NSF, DOE, DoD, Commerce, and the NQI Program Office.

  • Strengthen the National Quantum Coordination Office (NQCO)

    Elevate NQCO within OSTP and give it explicit cross-agency coordination authority over the full portfolio of federal quantum programs. Mandate annual whole-of-government quantum investment reports identifying program overlaps, gaps, and misaligned incentives.

  • Expand the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C) mandate

    QED-C — the NIST-sponsored industry-led consortium — should be explicitly tasked with supply chain mapping, workforce pipeline analysis, and standards engagement coordination. Its Quantum Law and Policy Technical Advisory Committee provides a model for specialized expert engagement.

  • Quantum Industry Advisory Council within DOC

    Modeled on the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee, the Council would provide Commerce with structured input from private quantum companies, investors, and academic researchers. Mandate: capital formation barriers, export control feedback, commercialization pathway assessment.

Universities play a structurally distinct role in the quantum ecosystem. They produce the human capital that industry cannot generate independently, operate the basic research programs that national laboratories and companies draw from, and serve as anchors for regional ecosystems. The Chicago Quantum Exchange (UChicago, Argonne, Fermilab, U Illinois), the MIT–Harvard quantum network, and programs at Caltech, Stanford, and Duke represent research assets whose commercial translation requires deliberate federal facilitation—not just research grants, but structured industry partnerships and commercialization support.

B.The AI–Quantum Integration Framework

A National Policy Framework for Quantum Technology that treats quantum in isolation from artificial intelligence will be obsolete before it is implemented. The two platforms are converging at the hardware, software, and application layers. Policy must reflect this.

  • Require joint AI–quantum planning in federal program design

    Direct NSF, DOE, DARPA, and DoD to require applicants for quantum research funding to address AI–quantum integration: how AI will be used in their quantum development pipeline, and how their quantum systems may eventually accelerate AI workloads.

  • Designate quantum computing as a strategic AI infrastructure priority

    The AI Action Plan identifies semiconductor manufacturing, energy infrastructure, and data centers as AI infrastructure priorities. Quantum computing should be explicitly designated as a long-horizon AI infrastructure priority, making quantum companies eligible for AI infrastructure support programs as they develop.

VIII.

Path Forward: Implementation Priorities

The window for decisive federal action is open. The Senate is in session through late July before the August recess. The Finance Committee markup calendar and the ongoing appropriations process create near-term vehicles for additional quantum funding provisions. The following sequencing reflects the legislative and administrative calendar.

Immediate

June–July 2026
  • Execute definitive CHIPS Act quantum manufacturing agreements with all nine LOI recipients
  • Confirm NSF Engines second competition quantum awardees
  • Direct NQCO to produce whole-of-government quantum program coordination report
  • Initiate Quantum Export Control Working Group under BIS

Near-Term

July–December 2026
  • Pass NQIARA out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee and Senate floor vote and House companion
  • Launch Quantum Manufacturing USA Institute design process
  • Publish NIST quantum network interoperability standards framework
  • Announce EDA Quantum Ecosystem Development Fund initial awards
  • Establish QDG Infrastructure Consortium working group

Medium-Term

2027–2028
  • Advance QBI Stage C hardware verification for lead performers
  • Operationalize Anderon foundry and GlobalFoundries quantum manufacturing lines
  • Complete federal PQC migration milestone assessment (OMB/CISA)
  • Launch Quantum Technician Training Initiative at NQNI sites
  • Publish first Quantum Industry Advisory Council report

Long-Term

2029–2033
  • Achieve commercial fault-tolerant quantum computing deployment (QBI target)
  • Establish U.S.-led global quantum standards across computing, networking, and sensing
  • Complete critical infrastructure PQC migration
  • Operate self-sustaining regional quantum ecosystems across 6+ metropolitan areas
  • Deploy quantum sensing at scale across defense and commercial applications

The measures in this framework require no single legislative vehicle. The NQIA Reauthorization advances through Senate Commerce. Federal program directives are executive actions. CHIPS Act execution is administrative. The diversity of pathways is a feature: quantum policy is not hostage to any single legislative outcome.

What it requires is coordination—a shared understanding across OSTP, NSF, DOE, Commerce, DoD, and the national laboratory system that these programs are parts of a single strategy, not parallel efforts. This framework is the architecture for that coordination.

Conclusion

The moment for decisive action is now.

Quantum technology is not a future policy problem. It is a present strategic competition. The foundational federal programs are in place: Genesis Mission, CHIPS manufacturing awards, DARPA QBI, NSF Engines and NQNI, NQIA Reauthorization. The private sector is mobilizing: nine companies with $2 billion in manufacturing commitments, eleven QBI performers in rigorous validation, regional ecosystems from Chicago to Chattanooga to Albuquerque building the human and physical capital base for quantum industry.

What is missing is a coherent national framework that connects these programs into a unified strategy—that coordinates capital formation, manufacturing investment, regional ecosystem development, workforce, standards, and international engagement as parts of a single whole rather than parallel federal initiatives.

This framework provides that architecture. Its three pillars—Innovation, Infrastructure, and International Leadership—mirror the structure of America’s AI Action Plan because quantum and AI are not separate races. They are the same race, run on converging tracks. The nation that leads in quantum will have a decisive advantage in AI. The nation that leads in AI will have a decisive advantage in quantum. A national policy framework that treats them as integrated priorities, not competing ones, is the foundation for sustained American technological leadership.

References

Sources & References

  1. 1.Reuters, "China launches 1 trillion yuan government-backed venture fund," March 2025.
  2. 2.Tom’s Hardware, "China to spend $55 billion on R&D in 2025 — semiconductor, AI and quantum computing fields to benefit," citing China Ministry of Finance 2025 central budget.
  3. 3.The Quantum Insider, "China’s 15th Five-Year Plan Makes Quantum an Industrial Imperative," 2026.
  4. 4.The Quantum Insider, "China’s Quantum Sector Sees Investment Surge," citing TQI Intelligence Platform data, Q1 2026.
  5. 5.Department of Energy, "Energy Department Launches ‘Genesis Mission’ to Transform American Science and Innovation," energy.gov, 2026. Quotes from NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams.
  6. 6.Oak Ridge National Laboratory, "The Genesis Mission," ornl.gov, describing the Lux AI cluster and Discovery system.
  7. 7.GrantedAI, "$293 Million to Merge AI With National Science: Inside the DOE Genesis Mission," March 2026.
  8. 8.NIST, "Department of Commerce Announces Letters of Intent With 9 Companies for $2 Billion to Accelerate U.S. Leadership in Quantum Computing," May 21, 2026.
  9. 9.The Quantum Insider, "IBM and U.S. Department of Commerce Announce Proposed $1 Billion CHIPS Award to Fund Purpose-Built Quantum Foundry," May 2026.
  10. 10.DARPA, "Quantum Benchmarking Initiative," darpa.mil; DARPA, "Stage B Selection," November 6, 2025 (11 companies).
  11. 11.DARPA, "Quantum Benchmarking Initiative Expands Quest to Separate Hype from Reality," March 2026. Stage A QBIT abstracts due July 31, 2026.
  12. 12.NSF, "Quantum Networks: A New Era of Interconnectedness," nsf.gov, describing NQNI ($100M, 16 sites) and QuantumGrid Chattanooga.
  13. 13.ExecutiveGov, "Quantum Connected Named NSF Regional Innovation Engines Program Semifinalist," July 2025. Brookings Metro, NSF Engines report, May 2026.
  14. 14.Chicago Quantum Exchange, "NSF Engine: Quantum Connected," chicagoquantum.org, describing Illinois–Wisconsin–Indiana finalist coalition.
  15. 15.Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, S. 3597, National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2026, advanced April 14–15, 2026.
  16. 16.White House, America’s AI Action Plan, July 2025; White House, National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence: Legislative Recommendations, March 2026.
  17. 17.The Quantum Insider, "Florida’s Quantum-Safe Corridor: LambdaRail’s Quantum Push," April 28, 2026.