By Alexandra Kelley
Insider Brief
- The Quantum Industry Coalition urged congressional leaders to pass the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act this year through the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act.
- The coalition called for higher funding authorizations, support for quantum testbeds and technology centers, workforce development and sustained government funding for commercially available quantum hardware and software.
- The group also recommended harmonizing research security requirements and program definitions with the CHIPS and Science Act, including coverage of quantum-classical hybrid systems.
- Image: Photo by Louis Velazquez on Unsplash
The Quantum Industry Coalition sent a letter to Congressional leadership on Friday urging the passage of the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act, along with a list of funding priorities the industry group wants to see included in the pending bill.
The letter, a copy obtained by The Quantum Insider, is addressed to leadership on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Specific recipients include Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Martin Heinrich, D-NM; and Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Brian Babin, R-Texas. It was sent on Friday, Oct. 30.
Coalition members unanimously endorse both chambers’ versions of the NQIRA and express that the bill needs to be enacted this year. As the NQIRA is slated for inclusion in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act and the House and Senate versions need reconciliation, the letter listed priority issues members want to see in the final bill text.
Continued need for adequate funding in areas like quantum testbeds and quantum technology center operations was first among the language the QIC reccommends, along with higher budget authorization levels than those offered in the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget and recent agency expenditures for National Quantum Initiative activities.
“The National Quantum Initiative has been vital to U.S. quantum leadership since 2018, but the state of the art in quantum fields has advanced considerably in that time, and the program must be updated to reflect it,” the letter reads. “Meanwhile, China and other strategic competitors are investing in quantum technology at extraordinary speed and scale. The NDAA presents the best available vehicle to get the reauthorization done, and we urge you to seize the opportunity.”
The letter also emphasizes continued efforts to develop a workforce that is fluent in quantum information sciences and technologies, as well as examine if, and how, to adjust college and K-12 education curricula to better include quantum technology subject matter. It also supports bill language that allows steady government funding to commercially available quantum hardware and software.
Standardizing research security protections and relevant quantum science and technology program definitions was also included. The QIC notes that the broader quantum technology research community and industry are operating under the research security and definition standards offered in the CHIPS and Science Act, and encourage lawmakers to include language that harmonizes these protocols and terms. Standardized research security requirements would reflect “a single, consistent set of requirements” and applicable definitions would be “technology-neutral and inclusive of the full range of quantum modalities and enablement technologies, including quantum-classical hybrid systems.”
Harmonization in both these arenas would streamline compliance for research entities and prevent any duplicative overlaps between different quantum science and technology programming.
Members of the QIC include Amazon Web Services, Accenture, IBM, Quantinuum, Xanadu, IonQ, Microsoft, Atom Computing, D-Wave, and other companies focusing on quantum technology.
The National Quantum Initiative Act was initialled passed and signed into law in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first administration. Its primary mission was to establish a decade-long plan to fortify the U.S. quantum technology research and development ecosystem via expanding federal agency programming. It expired in September 2023, though select programming has continued.
“We respectfully urge you to resolve the remaining issues promptly so that a unified NQIRA can be included in the NDAA and signed into law by the President this year,” the letter concluded.