The National Institute of Standards and Technology – NIST of the U.S. Department of Commerce has reached an arrangement with SRI International, the non-profit research and development institution, so as to assist and improve U.S. quantum technologies manufacturing and development standards. As part of the agreement, SRI is setting up the Quantum Manufacturing Engineering Center -QMEC in order to speed up manufacturing of scalable, high-performance quantum components as well as systems in order to drive substantial growth in the U.S. quantum sector. NIST plans to contribute an initial $20 million to the activities of the center.
According to Paul Dabbar, the deputy secretary of commerce, “Quantum science promises to generate new knowledge and technologies that will supercharge scientific research and unlock enormous economic potential. 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.”
The agreement builds on the intent to improve U.S. quantum technologies manufacturing as well as the objectives that have been mentioned in the Executive Order on Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation and is another significant step in terms of executing the Strategy for American Technology Leadership by NIST in the 21st Century so as to speed up the transition of critical and emerging technologies right from creation to adoption, and that too in close partnership with U.S. industry.
It is well to be noted that this collaboration with SRI is providing an important platform to push commercial readiness when it comes to quantum sensing as well as quantum-sensor manufacturing through supporting research and development paths that happen to advance quantum-enabling technologies and, at the same time, remove manufacturing barriers as outlined in the June 22, 2026, executive order.
According to Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Arvind Raman, “NIST is a world leader in quantum science and technology based on decades of fundamental research that helped launch the U.S. quantum industry. 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.”
Apparently, the collaboration will draw on the long-standing mission by SRI International of moving new innovations to effective commercial applications. NIST expects the new QMEC will speed up research and engineering innovations that overcome engineering and manufacturing obstacles and exhibit market adoption.
The center is going to expand on the fruitful collaboration between NIST and SRI that started in 2019 to create the Quantum Economic Development Consortium – QED-C, which was in reaction to the National Quantum Initiative Act. Presently, the participants in QED-C consist of almost all of the leading commercial developers of quantum technologies across the United States and an extensive and evolving set of end users. The interactions by NIST with QED-C and U.S. quantum companies recognized quantum manufacturing engineering as a major gap in national efforts to develop a strong commercial quantum sector.
This agreement indeed leads to supporting the NIST plan so as to coordinate innovative research efforts to accelerate the creation and implementation of essential technologies in domains of national priority. Building on NIST’s long-standing history of working with the private sector, NIST intends to leverage flexible and adaptable partnerships to create, test, and deploy novel innovations in order to position the U.S. as an innovator and leader when it comes to critical and emerging technologies like AI and quantum information science and technology, as well as biotechnology.