The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is investing $16 million in four teams to design high-tech infrastructure for the NSF National Quantum Virtual Laboratory (NQVL). Each team will receive a $4 million grant over two years to lay the groundwork for a shared national resource for quantum science and technology development. The NQVL initiative is an effort to accelerate the development of useful quantum technologies by providing researchers anywhere in the U.S. with access to specialized resources.
The NQVL design projects include two focused on quantum computing hardware platforms. The Quantum Advantage-Class Trapped Ions System (QACTI) project, led by Duke University, aims to design and construct a trapped ion quantum computer, with a goal of a 60-qubit machine by 2029 and a 256-qubit machine by 2033. The Open Stack Rydberg Atom Quantum Computing Laboratory (ORAQL) project, led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will design next-generation neutral atom logical quantum processor cores, targeting up to 400 logical qubits.
Two other projects focus on quantum networking and applications. The Quantum Computing Applications of Photonics (QCAP) project, led by the University of New Mexico, will prototype photonic architectures for both non-universal Gaussian boson sampling and a universal, continuous-variable measurement-based quantum computing strategy. The Wide-Area Quantum Network to Demonstrate Quantum Advantage (SCY-QNet) project, led by The Research Foundation for the State University of New York, will build a 10-node quantum network to demonstrate long-distance entanglement and remote matter-matter entanglement.
Each of the four teams includes institutions of higher education, U.S. federal agencies, including the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense, and the private sector. Over 20 companies are engaged as partners, including IonQ, J.P. Morgan, NVIDIA, and QuEra. The NQVL project places a special emphasis on training the next generation of quantum scientists, engaging students and postdoctoral researchers from diverse backgrounds to accelerate workforce development. The NSF expects to select a second cohort of teams later in 2025.
Read more about this initiative on the NSF News website here. For details on the individual $4 million awards, see the official grant pages for the QACTI project here, QCAP project here, SCY-QNet project here, and ORAQL project here.
September 11, 2025
