The U.S. Department of Energy will provide more than $1 billion to create five new Quantum Information Research centers nationwide with PNNL researchers deeply involved in three of them.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), located in the Tri-Cities Research District (TCRD), will play a major role in the Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA) led by Brookhaven National Laboratory. They will develop new materials and write programs to operate a quantum computer.

Also, PNNL’s partnership with the Microsoft Quantum team contributes to the Quantum Science Center led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Finally, PNNL’s expertise in chemistry and physics will be part of the Next Generation Quantum Science and Engineering (Q-NEXT) Center, led by Argonne National Laboratory.

“Realizing the promise of quantum computing is beyond the capacity of any single institution, public or private,” said PNNL Director Steven Ashby. “The power of these new quantum science centers, lies in the partnerships that will be forged among the national laboratories, leading universities and other research institutions.”