Quantum Industry Reps Testify as Congress Plans NQI Update

In a House Science Committee hearing last week, representatives of quantum technology companies suggested the federal government provide more support for industry in bringing technologies to market, including by developing the quantum workforce, investing in the supply chain, and serving as an “early customer.”

The National Quantum Initiative Act, passed in 2018 during the first Trump administration, directed the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and National Institute of Standards and Technology to support quantum information science research, student training, and standards development.

Science Committee Chair Brian Babin (R-TX) said he looks forward to working with the administration to update the NQI, and Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said it is “past time” to do so. The committee advanced bipartisan legislation on the subject in the previous Congress but it did not receive a vote in the full House.

Workforce needs

The witnesses suggested ways to expand the quantum workforce, including through NSF programs that engage secondary teachers and students, provide workforce retraining, and fund research fellowships. Charles Tahan, a partner at Microsoft Quantum and former director of the National Quantum Coordination Office, also advocated for creating expedited immigration pathways for highly skilled quantum experts and expanding the number of visas for immigrants who hold doctorates in quantum-related fields.

Charina Chou, director of Google Quantum AI, said Google has long depended on the strong pipeline across STEM fields from high schools and higher education institutions, supported in large part by the federal government.

“The quantum field is not just about quantum,” she said. “We were happy to see, in the [Trump administration’s latest budget request], recommendations for continued funding in quantum. But the opportunity, the hope, is to touch so many other fields, like drug discovery, chemistry, industrial applications, and more. And we’d really love to make sure that that broad base is here.”

Democrats on the committee noted that the administration has proposed a 56% cut to NSF and is terminating hundreds of its grants, including many for STEM education.

“We can’t lead if we’re dismantling the infrastructure that supports so much of this research,” Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA) said. “China’s investing billions of dollars building national quantum labs, and they’re rapidly expanding their workforce, and I don’t see how you can usher in a golden age of American innovation if you’re gutting the agency and the sciences behind it.”

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) also pointed to a study from the American Institute of Physics that projects a drop in first-year physics graduate students next year.

Babin emphasized the role of private investment, stating that venture capital invested $2.6 billion globally into the quantum industry in 2024. He asked how the government and industry can partner better under the NQI to avoid duplicating their investment efforts.

Celia Merzbacher, executive director of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium, said duplication is unlikely because the government and industry focus on “different parts of that value chain.”

“When you invest in research, you educate students, and they graduate, and they graduate and go and work for those companies,” she added. “And so the NQI funding has been essential for feeding and pouring fuel, frankly, on the work of all the companies that are members of QED-C.”

Government as an early customer

The witnesses suggested that the government could support quantum supply chains by purchasing products that feed into quantum research, such as photonic components, optical components, and low-temperature technology. Placing such components in schools for study could bolster both the supply chain and quantum workforce pipelines, Merzbacher said. The government could also spur private investment by committing in advance to buying quantum systems that meet certain specifications, she added.

Pete Shadbolt, chief scientific officer at PsiQuantum, asked that an NQI reauthorization support the development of a utility-scale quantum computer dedicated to U.S. government research and applications.

“The Department of Energy should take action toward a public-private collaboration to secure access to and utilize a national quantum computing asset to address the government’s most pressing problems,” Shadbolt wrote in his written testimony.

Tahan also emphasized the government’s role in facilitating access to powerful systems. “We already have computing systems that are much, much more powerful than anybody could buy, that are made available across the country to anybody who wants to use them,” Tahan said. “And we have, through the federal government, made investments in providing access to that from high school students all the way up to the most sophisticated researchers. And I think that has to continue to happen in quantum as well.”

Reauthorization proposals

In the last Congress, the committee’s NQI reauthorization bill proposed to expand the network of quantum information science centers established in the original NQI Act, adding up to three at NIST. It also would have directed NSF to create testbeds for quantum technology R&D and a multidisciplinary hub focused on quantum curriculum and workforce development and DOE to establish “quantum foundries” to support the quantum supply chain.

The equivalent bill from the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee recommended that Congress appropriate $2.7 billion for quantum R&D over the next five years. A press release on the bill said it would “refocus” the NQI from basic research to practical applications. The bill did not reach a committee vote last Congress and has not been reintroduced.

Members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee have reintroduced reauthorizing legislation that recommends spending around $2.5 billion for quantum R&D at DOE over the next five years, expanding DOE’s role in the initiative. The bill would direct DOE to reduce barriers to commercialization, create testbeds for quantum supercomputers, and establish a university-led quantum traineeship program focused on supporting participation of underrepresented students. It also requires the secretaries of energy and commerce to recommend ways for the federal government to address vulnerabilities in quantum supply chains.

The executive branch has also shown support for funding quantum research. President Donald Trump’s budget request names quantum information science as a “priority area” for NSF and the DOE Office of Science, though it slashes overall funding for both agencies. Michael Kratsios, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, contributed to the creation of the NQI during the first Trump administration. Both Kratsios and Paul Dabbar, Trump’s nominee for deputy secretary of commerce, expressed interest in reauthorizing the NQI during their nomination hearings earlier this year.

Other proposals from this Congress include creating a “sandbox” public-private partnership focused on near-term use cases for quantum, advancing deployment of post-quantum cybersecurity standards, establishing a legislative commission to evaluate quantum information science development needs, improving coordination between DOE and NSF, and expanding cooperation with allied countries.