(December 2, 2022) The Request for Solutions for the Microelectronics Commons (project 22-16 ) is now available. The Microelectronics Commons is a CHIPS and Science Act-funded national network for onshore, microelectronics hardware prototyping, lab-to-fab transition of semiconductor technologies and semiconductor workforce training. In particular, prototyping capabilities for six technology areas, which include quantum technologies, that are important to the Department of Defense (DoD) will be supported with seed projects in order to partially offset prototyping facility operating costs and to give these facilities experience in supporting outside users. For quantum technologies, the desired end-state is a commercial foundry-like access with fast turn-around times. End goals of this request for solutions include access to these fabrication facilities, which are amenable to developing process design kits for a variety of leading qubit types and support technologies, for DoD supported university/academic based collaborators as well as support the U.S. commercial quantum technology industry need, with the ability to include those that are experts in fields external to quantum information science.

(November 10, 2022) The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) five National Quantum Information Science Research Centers (NQISRCs) are leveraging the behavior of nature at the smallest scales to develop technologies for science’s most complex problems. While having their own unique areas of expertise and resources, the NQISRCs are all aligned to the same mission—the advancement of quantum information science.

(October 19, 2022) The National Security Agency (NSA) released the “Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite 2.0” (CNSA 2.0) Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) today to notify National Security Systems (NSS) owners, operators and vendors of the future quantum-resistant (QR) algorithms requirements for NSS — networks that contain classified information or are otherwise critical to military and intelligence activities.

(October 6, 2022) From October 28-29, 2022, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is hosting a virtual Workshop on Software-Hardware Co-Design for Quantum Computing. This workshop will function as a hub to spur a large, synergistic, and convergent effort for building a common technological ecosystem that quantum-enabled technologies and classical technologies can live together for mutual benefit and progress in the long term. In this workshop, experts from both industry and academia will gather together and discuss the key challenges that need to be addressed for an end-to-end quantum computing infrastructure. In particular, we advocate the importance of taking a computer engineering perspective. We envision that classic computer engineering techniques (at both software and hardware levels) have the potential to enable transformative scientific and industrial progress for quantum computing. The key is to figure out the grand challenges in the new quantum context. This workshop is to help the computer engineering community better understand and focus on these grand challenges rather than incremental changes, form a stronger collaboration, and propose transformative ideas to achieve significant progress in quantum computing. To this end, experts will be invited to get together to report the latest research progress and discuss their visions of the critical challenges that need to be addressed in the near future and how to tackle these challenges in a synergistic manner.