Chattanooga to establish nation’s first quantum tech center
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By
Chris Teale
The center, backed by the EPB public utility and others, will serve as a quantum networking and computing hub and help develop applications for the technology.
Chattanooga, Tennessee, will host the nation’s first quantum technology center to provide commercial access to quantum computing and networking, its public utility announced late last week.
EPB, the power utility that has already backed the city’s fiber network and has been a key player in Chattanooga’s push towards quantum technology, said it will jointly develop the center alongside quantum company IonQ to provide commercial access to quantum computing and quantum networking. It will be known as the EPB Quantum Center.
Under the partnership, IonQ will establish an office in Chattanooga to provide quantum computing, networking, and application development support and training. The effort will build on the city’s quantum network, which EPB rolled out for businesses, academia and government researchers to use in 2022. Officials hope this new center, and the addition of a quantum computer, will keep Chattanooga as a leader in the sector.
"Quantum technology has the potential to define Chattanooga's economic future,” Mayor Tim Kelly said in a statement. “I think we will look back on this announcement as an important day in our city's history.”
This joint effort will install an IonQ Forte Enterprise Quantum Computer, which both companies will use equally. The center will focus on finding practical applications for securing and optimizing the power grid, with IonQ supporting the effort through its development expertise while training EPB employees as quantum application developers. EPB will sell access time to the computer to other companies wishing to do their own research and development.
Niccolo de Masi, President and CEO of IonQ, called it a “pivotal step in building a quantum economy” in the city, and inTennessee more broadly. And Vicky Gregg, EPB’s board chair, said the effort will “ensure our community is well-positioned for the future.”
The economic benefits could be enormous. The Digital Quantum Technology Monitor from McKinsey & Company estimates that quantum technology could create trillions of dollars in value within the next decade for early adopters, especially in industries like automotive manufacturing, logistics, energy storage and insurance.
EPB believes the company and its customers will benefit enormously from quantum. Some of the applications the company highlighted included quantum’s uses for cybersecurity and cryptography to prevent hacks; grid optimization to improve load balancing; route optimization; predictive maintenance; and resource optimization, including on how to utilize power generation methods like wind and solar in tandem with local energy storage.
"We’re committed to giving our young people every opportunity to succeed — by investing in the skills that power today’s workforce and tomorrow’s economy,” Hamilton County, Tennessee, Mayor Weston Wamp said in a statement. “With EPB putting our community at the forefront of quantum technology, we’re not just preparing for the future — we’re building it, and making sure the path to opportunity runs through Hamilton County.”
Many states and cities are interested in being leaders in quantum technology, which is based on quantum physics, a set of laws that govern the behavior of the very smallest things in the universe like atoms. The science isn’t new, but quantum computing could be far faster and more powerful than today’s, and so useful in areas like cybersecurity, encryption and research. Though significant strides have been made in the field, a true, fault-tolerant quantum computer is still on the horizon.
Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico and Virginia are just some of the states investing heavily in research on the technology and how it can be best used. And while it promises to provide an economic development boon, national security also is front-of-mind when it comes to quantum research, as China sees the technology as “pivotal” according to some researchers and has increased government spending on the technology.
Elected leaders are optimistic that quantum can result in huge benefits across the board.
“Together, we’re building a stronger future that will benefit businesses, workers and families across our region,” Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican and the chair of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies, said in a statement.
The center is expected to be built out and commissioned by early next year.