The Industrial Science Report: Manufacturing the quantum future through scalable hardware and precision fabrication

Quantum breakthrough extends connectivity for long-distance quantum computers

Quantum computing has often been framed as powerful but isolated, making its relevance to industry limited. However, extending quantum connectivity by 200× changes that narrative and opens the door to distributed quantum systems that could tackle manufacturing problems too complex for a single machine. For industry, this could eventually enable new levels of optimization in logistics, scheduling, materials modeling, and energy use across geographically distributed plants. 

Scientists at the University of Chicago reported a breakthrough in quantum communication that substantially extends the distance over which quantum computers can be connected—up to 200 times farther than previously feasible, from a mile or two to more than 1,200 miles. The research focuses on improving quantum network components to preserve entanglement over longer paths, a key challenge for distributed quantum computing. Linking quantum computers to create quantum networks involves entangling atoms through a fiber cable, and the atoms can only travel distances when they are entangled. The crystals needed for quantum entanglement are made like other crystals by removing material to create the right shape. Molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), more akin to 3D printing, sprays thin layers to assemble the device atom by atom. The link performance of these robust quantum networks created with MBE crystals significantly extend range and advance the practical scalability for quantum information networks across manufacturing supply-chain optimization, simulation, and materials discovery.

Nanomagnet production technique enhances efficiency and reduces manufacturing cost 

At the smallest scale, magnetism comes from electrons, which behave like tiny spinning bar magnets. In most materials, those “spins” lie flat and partially cancel each other out. Instead, this HZDR team’s breakthrough is forcing those spins to line up vertically (more like stacking books on their spines instead of laying them flat) so their magnetic effects add together instead of competing. That alignment produces stronger, more responsive nanomagnets in a much smaller footprint, which is exactly what next-generation data storage, sensors, and spintronic devices require.

Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research (HZDR), in collaboration with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the Institute of Nuclear Physics at the Polish Academy of Sciences, developed a novel nanomagnet fabrication method that uses a highly focused ion beam to generate vertically aligned nanomagnets within inexpensive iron-vanadium alloys. This vertical alignment enhances magnetic responsiveness and allows more compact and efficient magnetic structures, which are critical for data storage, magnetic sensors, spintronics, and emerging quantum computing components. Unlike conventional methods reliant on complex materials or layered structures, this technique reduces production complexity and cost while offering flexibility in nanostructure design. 

OQC and Fraunhofer EMFT partner to strengthen quantum fabrication capabilities

Quantum computing will not scale if it cannot be manufactured, which is fundamentally a manufacturing problem, not a physics one. The OQC–Fraunhofer EMFT collaboration signals a shift from lab quantum devices toward standardized, CMOS-compatible production. For industry, this mirrors the evolution of semiconductors and suggests that quantum hardware may eventually follow familiar manufacturing, quality, and reliability playbooks. Maintenance and reliability professionals may soon find themselves responsible for an entirely new classes of ultra-sensitive, quantum-enabled systems.

Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Microsystems and Solid State Technologies (EMFT) have announced a strategic collaboration to accelerate the industrialization and scalable fabrication of superconducting quantum computing hardware. The partnership combines OQC’s system-level quantum expertise with Fraunhofer EMFT’s advanced, industry-standard complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible fabrication capabilities to transition superconducting qubit technologies from laboratory prototypes to reproducible, industry-grade manufacturing processes. By aligning quantum device production with established semiconductor manufacturing standards, the collaboration aims to support fabless quantum computing models, enabling greater scalability, yield, and manufacturability for quantum processors. Key elements of the effort include transferring superconducting qubit technology into Fraunhofer’s CMOS pilot line and leveraging wafer-scale fabrication to improve device coherence and reproducibility. 

Qolab and Western Digital team up to advance scalable quantum hardware

Quantum computers will not change manufacturing if they remain lab-built science projects, and this partnership is about ending that era. By bringing Western Digital’s precision manufacturing and nanofabrication discipline into quantum hardware development, Qolab is tackling the same yield and reliability challenges that every advanced manufacturing sector faces. For maintenance and reliability professionals, it foreshadows a future where quantum hardware must be maintained, monitored, and qualified with the same rigor as other high-precision industrial systems.

Qolab, a U.S.-based developer of superconducting quantum computing hardware, has formed a partnership with Western Digital, a global leader in data storage and precision manufacturing, to accelerate next-generation quantum innovation. The collaboration and strategic investment combines Western Digital’s materials science, precision manufacturing, and nanofabrication expertise with Qolab’s quantum hardware design to advance nanofabrication processes that enhance qubit performance, reliability, and scalability. This effort aims to bridge scientific quantum research with real-world application by moving quantum systems closer to scalable, manufacturable production. The partners hope this venture will also reinforces U.S. leadership in semiconductor research and nanofabrication and is expected to support local innovation and job growth in California’s technology sector. 

NIST researchers control molecules at the quantum level, new frontier for quantum technologies

While physicists have learned to precisely control individual atoms, extending that level of control to larger, more complex molecules has remained a major challenge. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have now demonstrated near-perfect quantum control of a single molecular ion, a milestone that could eventually underpin more accurate clocks, sensors, and calibration standards for advanced manufacturing and computing technologies. The work advances the measurement science that quantum computing and atomic timekeeping rely on to manage extremely subtle thermal and energy effects.

That precision does not come easily. “Molecular quantum systems require, for instance, many lasers, shielding from electrical noise, and ultra-high vacuum to suppress collisions with background gas molecules,” says April Sheffield, a research associate at NIST. “Maintaining such exquisite controls is challenging outside tightly controlled laboratory conditions.”

Where it could matter first is in calibrating and validating environments where thermal radiation, not just temperature, limits performance. “This technique could be used to better calibrate temperature measurements to be sensitive not only to the internal temperature of the sensor but to the actual distribution of thermal radiation: the (usually invisible) light that’s emitted by every object,” Sheffield explains. That capability could help improve the accuracy and stability of atomic clocks and quantum computers, systems where tiny thermal effects can translate into significant performance errors.

For maintenance and reliability engineers, this research hints at future diagnostics capable of detecting minute temperature changes, energy losses, or environmental drift long before they trigger equipment failure. It also underscores how quantum-enabled metrology may redefine accuracy standards across semiconductor, aerospace, and precision manufacturing.

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have achieved near-perfect quantum control of a calcium monohydride molecular ion by using a “helper” calcium ion and quantum logic spectroscopy, a technique originally developed for atomic clocks. By trapping the molecule alongside the helper ion and using laser cooling in a cryogenic environment, the team was able to manipulate and read out molecular rotational states with about 99.8% success, demonstrating a new level of precision in controlling complex molecular systems. This breakthrough extends quantum control from individual atoms to molecules, which possess richer internal structures due to rotation and vibration, potentially enabling molecules to serve as versatile components in quantum technologies. The experiment also showed that molecular ions could act as highly sensitive quantum thermometers, offering more detailed measurements of thermal radiation than conventional vacuum thermometers. By opening the door to controlling a broader class of molecular species, this work may impact manufacturing of quantum sensors, quantum information devices, and advanced metrology tools where precise molecular behavior is critical.