Microsoft opens quantum research center in Maryland

Microsoft has opened a 15,000-square-foot quantum research center in the University of Maryland’s Discovery District. The facility includes a quantum hardware makerspace designed to bring together academics, industry experts, students, and researchers to foster a broader quantum ecosystem.

As part of the center's operations, Microsoft is providing topological qubits built on its Majorana 2 quantum chip for independent testing and evaluation by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Microsoft has also advanced to the final stage of DARPA’s Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing program.

Fermilab is an initial partner in the makerspace. Through a collaboration with Microsoft, Fermilab aims to expand the capabilities of its Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit (QICK), an open-source hardware and software toolkit used for controlling and reading information from quantum bits. Other initial partners in the makerspace include AMD, Bluefors, Intel, IQM, Riverlane, and Quantum Motion.