SRI International is establishing a Quantum Manufacturing Engineering Center (QMEC) under an agreement with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the agency announced on June 29, 2026. NIST plans to make an initial investment of $20 million in the center’s activities. In its announcement, NIST did not give the agreement’s type or length, or the center’s location.
NIST said the center will focus on accelerating the manufacture of scalable, high-performance quantum components and systems, for example by advancing enabling technologies such as cryostats and lasers. SRI, a nonprofit research and development institution, said an early goal is to advance the manufacturability of quantum-enabling components within three years.
SRI called cryostats and lasers “critical enablers of quantum sensors and computers.” Cryostats are refrigerators that keep devices near absolute zero, the conditions many quantum processors and some quantum sensors need.
Lasers cool and control the ions and neutral atoms in other types of quantum computers and hold the neutral atoms in place. Atomic clocks and many sensors also rely on them.
The executive order NIST cited
NIST tied the agreement to the goals of the executive order “Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation.” President Trump signed that order on June 22. It was published in the Federal Register as Executive Order 14413 on June 25.
In Section 5(b), Trump directed four agency heads to develop five-year plans for advancing quantum sensing and networking. Under Section 5(b)(i), the secretary of commerce must develop a plan “for advancing commercial readiness of quantum sensing, quantum-sensor manufacturing technology, and quantum-network-enhanced timing.”
In Section 6(a), Trump directed the secretary of commerce, in consultation with the secretary of energy and other agency heads, to develop a plan to strengthen the domestic quantum information science and technology (QIST) sector. Trump listed supply-chain analysis and private-sector adoption of standards as parts of that plan, along with “supporting research and development pathways that advance quantum-enabling technologies and eliminate QIST manufacturing barriers.”
Under the order, reports to the President on the Section 6(a) plan are due within 90 days of June 22. Reports on the Section 5(b) plans are due within 120 days.
How the center will work
SRI said the center will recruit quantum experts and companies to advance manufacturing and strengthen supply chains through research and development. SRI listed scalable processes for quantum chips and integrated photonic circuits first among its objectives for the center. Integrated photonic circuits are chips that guide and process light.
SRI also listed standards and quality-control methods, as well as a U.S.-based supply chain for the materials and components quantum systems require. Lawrence Lee, SRI’s QMEC program director, said each project would have “clear goals, defined milestones, and measurable outcomes.”
Arvind Raman, under secretary of commerce for standards and technology and director of NIST, said the partnership with SRI “will accelerate the development of America’s quantum industrial base.” Deputy Commerce Secretary Paul Dabbar said the center “will bring together top experts” to keep the United States in the lead in quantum technologies and in manufacturing quantum systems at scale.
Earlier NIST and SRI work
NIST said the center will build on a partnership it began with SRI in 2019 to establish the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), in response to the National Quantum Initiative Act. Through its work with QED-C and U.S. quantum companies, NIST identified quantum manufacturing engineering as “a critical gap” in national efforts to develop a commercial quantum industry.
In 2022, SRI said NIST had awarded it a $300,000 grant to develop a quantum technology manufacturing roadmap. SRI said that effort had more than 30 pledged collaborators at the outset, including Rigetti, Quantinuum, IonQ, Cisco, and Keysight.
