White House Science Report Names Quantum a Strategic Priority

The White House has published its first major rethink of U.S. science policy in 80 years, and quantum computing sits near the center of it. “Science: A New Golden Age,” a report to President Trump by science adviser Michael Kratsios, names quantum information science as one of a handful of strategic technologies, alongside AI and nuclear power. It also folds a specific quantum goal into the administration’s 2028 research priorities.

How the White House wants to reshape US research

Specifically, the document’s larger claim is about how the country organizes research, not quantum in particular. It says the postwar model, in which universities do basic research and industry later commercializes it under government funding, has grown too rigid for today’s competition.

In its place, Kratsios argues for research organized around national missions, tighter links between science and domestic manufacturing, regional innovation clusters, and new kinds of research bodies such as time-limited X-Labs and ARPA-style programs. Implementation runs through an FY2028 R&D priorities memo, and agencies have 90 days to submit action plans.

What the new strategy means for quantum computing

For the quantum sector, two things stand out. First, the report keeps quantum on the short list of technologies the government treats as strategic, and it names a concrete effort, the Quantum Computer for Application Development and Discovery Science, or QC-ADDS, meant to build a machine large enough to start quantum-enabled scientific discovery.

Second, the model it describes already resembles how much of the quantum industry works: companies that publish papers as they build hardware, national labs that partner directly with startups, universities that spin out companies, and regional hubs that tie the pieces together. That parallel is an observation rather than a claim the report makes about quantum.

The report isn’t a neutral document. Coverage elsewhere has flagged that it calls for shifting federal money toward individual researchers and away from established university funding, which has drawn pushback from parts of the research community. It casts itself as the successor to Vannevar Bush’s 1945 blueprint, so its ambitions run high. Whether agencies deliver on the quantum pieces will show up in their 2028 budget plans.