For 250 years, America’s greatest strength has been its ability to turn scientific discovery into world-changing innovation. From the industrial revolution to the space race, from semiconductors to the Internet, the United States has repeatedly transformed foundational science into technologies that change the world. The nation’s greatest innovations have strengthened economic competitiveness, bolstered national security, promoted global connectivity, and advanced world health.
As America celebrates its 250th birthday, it stands at the threshold of another technological revolution – a revolution that is emerging from quantum science. The understanding of the fundamental laws of the way nature works, quantum mechanics, is just over 100 years old. We are witnessing a third wave of global impact: the first was marked by the invention of the transistor, the second by the invention of the laser. The incredible impact on modern life of these two inventions is undeniable. However, today’s quantum technology revolution is not heralded by a single invention. Rather the transistor and laser foreshadowed today’s emerging capability to manipulate and control nature’s fundamental constituents – the electron, the photon, and now especially the atom – to the very limits allowed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Such capability allows us to synthesize new states of matter that do not exist in nature; it allows us to sense the world around us not by factors of two better than before, but by factors of ten better than before. We have the potential to create new materials, better ways for harvesting energy, new pathways for drug discovery, improvements to worldwide agriculture, and new capabilities for space exploration. We are on the verge of creating computers that use quantum mechanics to solve problems that cannot be solved by classical computers and generally process information in ways that are simply not possible no matter how many generations of semiconductor electronics the future might see.
Quantum advantage, as some refer to it, is already here and moving into the real world. Quantum technologies already enable GPS-resilient navigation, ultra-precise timing, advanced sensing, and secure communications. Yet the quantum technology frontier is vast and will be open for exploration and cultivation for decades to come. Advances will be powered by scientific quantum research and realized by quantum engineering.
The American Roots of Quantum Innovation
Quantum theory emerged through the work of scientists around the world, and its frontier will always be defined through an international, collective endeavor. Yet the United States has played a defining role in transforming scientific discoveries into practical technologies through decades of research, engineering, and commercialization. John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William Shockley at AT&T Bell Labs invented the transistor; Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Labs invented the laser.
These breakthroughs were supported by something uniquely American: a long-term commitment to scientific discovery and a belief that fundamental scientific research will lead not only to a better understanding of the world around us, but to pathways for improving the world and human life. That commitment – that belief – has delivered some of the most important innovations of the past century. Today, it is helping drive the quantum revolution.
A National Commitment to Quantum Leadership
America’s leadership in quantum did not happen by accident. It is not a coincidence that much of the research that has propelled quantum from science to technology emerged out of programs supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the research offices of the armed services: The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Army Research Office (ARO), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR). Many of the quantum technology companies that exist today owe their start to the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs supported by these offices as well as by DARPA, NASA, and NIST. The SBIR and STTR programs are uniquely American.
Over the past decade, the United States has made quantum technology a strategic priority through investments from the Department of War, Department of Energy, NASA, National Science Foundation, and other federal agencies. These investments have helped accelerate research, develop talent, strengthen supply chains, and move quantum technologies from research environments into operational systems.
That commitment gained additional momentum in June 2026 when President Trump signed executive orders to accelerate American leadership in quantum technologies and post-quantum cybersecurity. The challenge now is not simply to invent quantum technologies, but to translate scientific leadership into economic leadership and lasting national advantage. The actions reinforce a growing bipartisan recognition that quantum technologies will play an important role in economic competitiveness, scientific leadership, and national security in the decades ahead.
Just as previous generations invested in aerospace, computing, and telecommunications, today’s investments are helping build the foundation for the quantum economy.
From a Boulder Laboratory to a Global Quantum Company
Few places better represent America’s quantum story than Boulder, Colorado.
The first Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) was created there. I had the privilege of building that scientific foundation when I founded ColdQuanta as a spinout from the University of Colorado Boulder with a vision of bringing quantum technology into practical applications. Among several technology firsts, I am very proud that our technology became a key part of NASA’s mission to put the first BEC into space orbit on the International Space Station in 2018. Today, the company has become Infleqtion, a global quantum technology company. Infleqtion’s journey reflects a broader American success story: catalyzed by the SBIR programs, transforming world-class research into commercial innovation. What began as pioneering work with ultra-cold atoms has evolved into a global quantum technology company delivering solutions across quantum computing, sensing, timing, networking, and security.
The company works alongside government agencies, research institutions, and commercial partners to advance technologies that address some of the most important challenges facing modern society. From quantum timing systems designed to provide resilient alternatives when GPS signals are degraded or unavailable, to quantum sensing technologies for aerospace and defense applications, Infleqtion is helping bring quantum capabilities into real-world environments today.
This work is made possible in part through partnerships and programs supported by organizations including the Department of War, NASA, the Department of Energy, and other government partners that recognize the strategic importance of quantum technologies.
Building the Next 250 Years
America’s history is a story of ambitious ideas.
It is the story of researchers pursuing discoveries that once seemed impossible. It is the story of entrepreneurs turning scientific breakthroughs into transformative companies. It is the story of public and private investment working together to create technologies that strengthen the nation and improve lives around the world.
Quantum technology represents the next chapter in that story.
As the United States celebrates 250 years of innovation, the country is once again investing in a frontier technology with the potential to transform industries, create new economic opportunities, and help solve some of humanity’s most complex challenges.
The first 250 years of American innovation brought us to the threshold of the quantum era. What comes next will depend on the choices we make today to invest, to innovate, and to lead.
A note about the blog cover artwork: The official America250 logo is reproduced as a fluorescence image from individual Cesium atoms dynamically arranged within one of Infleqtion’s neutral atom quantum processing units in Colorado. (Image is a composite of multiple reconfigured qubit arrays.)