Massachusetts Awards Harvard-Backed Center $5 Million for Quantum Computer

The Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center, a facility run by Harvard and four other universities, was awarded $5 million to build the first state-funded quantum computing center, state leaders announced on Friday.

Billed as an open-source project, the center also received $11 million from QuEra Computing, a quantum computing company based in Boston.

MGHPCC Executive Director John Goodhue said the center will be built over a two-year period at the existing facility in Holyoke to improve data processing for research and local industries. He praised Massachusetts Governor Maura T. Healey ’92 for investing in the project while the industry is young.

“Quantum in general is at a stage where very few venture investors are ready to invest,” Goodhue said. “So what the state has done is put in some money to help stimulate activity that would not otherwise be able to happen.”

“Very few companies are even capable of building one today,” he added.

Massachusetts Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao announced the grant in Boston and said the center will help partnering universities teach students about quantum computing.

“This project will catalyze the growth of a local quantum industry in Western Massachusetts, create new career paths in the industry, and drive innovation across several sectors including biomedical research and financial services,” Hao said at the event.

The center is far from the first Harvard-backed quantum computing project in recent years.

The Harvard Quantum Initiative — another research center for quantum computing — was launched in 2018 to formalize work done within the University’s physics department. Since then, Harvard has dramatically expanded its research into the field, partnering with Amazon Web Services in 2022.

QuEra — the new computer’s commercial sponsor — was founded by Harvard Physics Professor Mikhail Lukin. Lukin, who was awarded Harvard’s highest faculty rank of University Professor in 2023, did not respond to an interview request for this article.

Goodhue said he hopes the project can help address national problems like transportation issues and cybersecurity threats.

“There are seemingly simple problems like factoring large numbers that are very important commercially that would take the largest classical computer in the world thousands to hundreds of thousands of years to solve,” Goodhue said.

“Quantum computing offers the possibility of solving those problems in hours,” he added.

As part of the project, MGHPCC will offer quantum computing courses at Springfield Technical Community College.

“You aren’t going to have a robust quantum computing sector unless you have people who know how to operate quantum computers,” said Goodhue.

QuEra Interim CEO Andrew D. Ory ’88 said the project will “reinforce Massachusetts’ position as a hub of innovation,” according to a press release.

“We are thrilled to support the growth of quantum computing in Massachusetts, where QuEra has deep roots through our partnerships with MIT and Harvard and access to world-class talent,” Ory said.