California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislative measures and announced a $30 million joint budget allocation for quantum and deep-space research to advance state-level technology infrastructure. Announced at a quantum laboratory at UC Berkeley, the executive action expands the state’s Quantum California initiative by supporting university research hubs, public-private startup incubators, and hardware supply-chain infrastructure across physical sciences and semiconductor manufacturing.
The legislative package includes Senate Bill 925 (Sen. Jerry McNerney) and Assembly Bill 2647 (Asm. Lisa Calderon). SB 925 directs the California Energy Commission to establish a comprehensive strategic plan, certification protocols, and environmental review frameworks to commercialize fusion energy and scale advanced fusion manufacturing. Concurrently, AB 2647 mandates a statewide technical assessment regarding the integration of advanced nuclear technologies to support grid reliability toward California’s target of 100% zero-carbon electricity by 2045.
Complementing the executive announcement, Governor Newsom signed University of California-sponsored legislation (Senate Bill 895) placing the $7.5 billion California Science and Health Research Bond Act on the March 2028 state ballot. Designed to mitigate potential federal research funding fluctuations, the bond measure would fund public university capital projects, medical innovations, and emerging technology research.
A major infrastructure component within California’s quantum framework is the UCLA Quantum Innovation Hub (QIH) at the newly developed UCLA Research Park. QIH has secured global aerospace corporation Boeing as an industry partner to advance physical-layer quantum networking, entanglement distribution over optical fiber, and system design for space and defense communications—including an on-site entanglement-swapping testbed to model multi-node quantum network performance.
| [ California Quantum & Emerging Tech Policy & Funding Mandates ] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Initiative / Program | Funding & Legislation | Strategic Technical & Operational Scope |
| • Quantum & Deep-Space Allocation | • $30.0 Million Direct Budget (Joint Quantum/Deep-Space) | • Public university research hubs, public-private startup incubators, and satellite/deep-space communications |
| • Dedicated Quantum R&D Allocation | • $4.0 Million Direct State Grant | • Targeted research and innovation hubs, talent pipeline creation, and applied hardware development |
| • SQUAD (SoCal Quantum Alliance) | • $9.74 Million Jobs First Grant | • UCLA-led regional coordination and workforce development across Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties |
| • CIQC QLCI Center Renewal | • $37.5 Million NSF 5-Year Award | • UC Berkeley-led Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation algorithmic and hardware research |
| • Quantum FAST Challenge | • $2.7 Million Higher Ed Grant | • Higher education applied use case demonstrations and quantum talent development |
| • Workforce Accelerator Fund | • $3.0 Million State Allocation | • Non-degree vocational technician training and specialized quantum/fusion career pathways |
| • Fusion Energy Strategy | • Policy Mandate (SB 925 / AB 2647) (Prior $5M R&D Fund) | • CEC commercial fusion strategic plan, certification frameworks, and grid-reliability assessments |
| • Science & Health Bond Act | • $7.5 Billion Ballot Measure (SB 895 / March 2028) | • Statewide research bond for university infrastructure, climate science, and advanced technologies |
The state’s quantum strategy incorporates key university and corporate R&D nodes—including the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering, the AWS Center for Quantum Computing at Caltech, Microsoft Station Q, and Google Quantum AI—supported by local critical mineral production (MP Materials’ rare earth facility) to secure end-to-end hardware supply chains.
Review the executive release on the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom Portal here, inspect university bond details via the University of California Press Room here, explore UCLA Quantum Innovation Hub partnership specifics on the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences Portal here, and examine our previous coverage on Governor Newsom’s $9.74M award to scale the Southern California quantum ecosystem here.
October 1, 2026