Colorado leads the world in quantum tech. Now its potential is growing.

BROOMFIELD, Colo. — In an unassuming brick building in northern Colorado’s City of Broomfield, a new technology is harnessing the power of the very smallest particles and waves to solve our biggest problems.

On small golden chips, tiny particles known as “quantum bits” or “qubits” are trapped above the surface. Lasers and voltages move those qubits around, powering the computer of the future.

What will it mean?

“Faster discovery,” said Dr. Jenni Strabley who works with Quantinuum, the world’s biggest integrated quantum computing company.

Colorado already leads the world when it comes to quantum technology. Now, new investments in the Mountain West’s quantum tech hub are expanding its potential to transform everything from our health to our national security.

“If we want to live in the Jetsons Age, we’ve got to get this right,” said Zachary Yerushalmi, chief executive and regional innovation officer for Elevate Quantum.

“The quantum community in Colorado has a gravity around it really unlike anywhere else on the planet,” Yerushalmi said. “We have more organizations, more jobs, more Nobel Prizes than any other.”

But to take these innovations to the next level, Yerushalmi said collaboration is key.

Elevate Quantum is the largest regional consortium of researchers and companies working together on quantum technology in the United States. And it’s set to keep growing. The Biden Administration recognized Elevate Quantum as a designated Tech Hub late last year, and the federal government will soon invest $40.5 million in funding through the Economic Development Administration.

On top of that, Colorado is investing $74 million in state support, including $44 million in refundable tax credits to help pay for a shared quantum research facility and $30 million to help smaller Colorado quantum companies access capital through a loan loss reserve.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis expects these investments in quantum technology to create more than 10,000 jobs and $1 billion in economic impact statewide.

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