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Quantum Campus shares the latest in quantum science and technology. Read by more than 2,100 researchers, we publish on Fridays and are always looking for news from across the country. Want to see your work featured? Submit your ideas to the editor.
IQMP
New Scientist covered negative reactions by some members of the community surrounding the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on Chicago’s South Side, asking “Will the backlash against AI data centres hit quantum computing too?”
The article highlighted a group calling for “Community Over Quantum” that has been protesting the development for more than a year. Community groups have raised questions about the environmental clean-up of the former steel mill site, power and water demands, and the economic impact on the surrounding area.
“This is genuinely exciting technology, and it’s easy to assume everyone will see it that way. But it’s human nature to be uneasy about change, especially change this size,” said Pranav Gokhale, a co-founder of Infleqtion. The company will be a tenant in the park and plans to deploy a quantum system there. The park itself has seen more than $1 billion in private and public funding commitments to date.
As the author of the story, Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, wrote, it is easy “to dismiss the situation in Chicago as a problem of local politics, rather than a quantum one. Yet the opacity of the word ‘quantum’ cannot be extricated from many of the issues at play…In Chicago, it also seems to suffer from the association with the other big tech story of the moment: AI.”
A forceful editorial by the Chicago Tribune in late September made the local paper of record’s view clear, headlining it “Quantum is not AI, folks” and saying “Repeat after us: The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP), in development on 128 acres…will not be a collection of power-sucking, water-drinking data centers.”
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Diraq
Diraq announced last week that it will establish a new research and development outpost at the Roadrunner Quantum Lab in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The State of New Mexico is supporting Diraq’s expansion into the state as part of its partnership with DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. The state’s matching funds are helping to build equipment and infrastructure in the state quantum ecosystem that will enable Diraq’s lab operations, according to an announcement by Economic Development New Mexico.
National security systems
NSA announced this week that new commercial national security systems, including resources at institutions like the Department of Defense and defense contractors, must support quantum-resistant security algorithms beginning in 2027. Any legacy systems that are not quantum-resistant by 2030 must be phased out. NSA will offer a protective domain name system, attack surface management, and NSA threat intelligence tailored to the defense sector, as well as zero-trust implementation guidelines and support, according to an article in ExecutiveGov.
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