The National Science Foundation announced Friday a $100 million investment to create a nationwide network of shared research facilities aimed at accelerating U.S. leadership in emerging technologies such as quantum science and nanotechnology.
The new initiative, called the NSF National Quantum and Nanotechnology Infrastructure (NSF NQNI), will support as many as 16 open-access research sites across the country over the next five years. Those facilities are intended to give universities, students, small businesses and industry partners access to cutting-edge equipment and expertise in fields that require specialized tools for fabrication and characterization.
Advocates of quantum computing and nanotechnology say the advanced tools required to probe and manipulate materials at atoms-wide scales often lie beyond the financial reach of smaller institutions. By creating shared facilities, the NSF aims to strengthen research ecosystems in regions that have historically lacked such infrastructure, broadening participation in high-tech innovation.
“This NSF investment in research facilities will power U.S. discovery in quantum and nanotechnologies to fuel our economy,” said Don Millard, head of the agency’s engineering directorate. “With facilities open to students, faculty and small businesses, NQNI will enable transformative ideas to be explored, scaled and translated.”
Quantum information science is seen by federal officials and many scientific leaders as a strategic area of competition with global rivals. Technologies emerging from advances in quantum computation, communication and sensing — and in nanoscale materials that form their hardware foundations — could eventually reshape fields from cybersecurity and medicine to manufacturing and climate modeling.
The NQNI program builds on decades of NSF support for nanotechnology infrastructure, including its predecessor networks, and extends its scope to embrace the specific challenges of quantum research. Letters of intent from institutions interested in hosting one of the sites are due March 16, 2026, according to the agency.