The Quantum State – March 2026

A monthly newsletter by BTQ Technologies

Author

Anastasia Marchenkova
March 18, 2026

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A new federal proposal to tighten access restrictions on foreign researchers who work directly with NIST staff at national labs is rattling Colorado's fast-growing quantum industry.”

- Colorado Sun

February recorded several notable events in the rapidly evolving quantum sphere, from a new federal government proposal to the collaboration between research labs and quantum companies aimed at commercial and industrial deployment. A new federal government proposal to tighten access restrictions on foreign researchers working with NIST staff at national laboratories is rattling Colorado's fast-growing quantum industry.

In terms of investment, more funds are being set aside by governments and raised through serial funding to advance the infrastructures powering quantum technology: Singapore is allocating a share of its S$37 billion budget through 2030 for quantum technology, Pasqal is in talks to raise €200 million at unicorn valuation, the state of Tennessee is collaborating with EPB to allocate a total of $24 million to a new quantum initiative, and Chiral raises $12 million to unlock post-silicon computing beyond Moore’s Law.

On the commercial side, February witnessed more collaborations for industrial deployment between quantum technology companies/start-ups and various technology companies. BTQ Technologies announced a new quantum hardware commercialization hub in New York City, Xanadu and Lockheed Martin launched a joint research initiative to redefine the foundations of quantum machine learning, and Qunnect and Cisco demonstrated a first-of-its-kind metro-scale, high-speed quantum entanglement swapping over commercial fiber in New York City.

February kept up with the momentum of increased investments and more collaborations between quantum companies and other tech companies to accelerate the industrial deployment of quantum technology. In addition, there were more acquisitions and strategic hires across quantum companies.

BTQ Technologies Announces New Quantum Hardware Commercialization Hub in New York City and Key Engineering Hires to Accelerate QCIM

BTQ Technologies Corp. has announced the opening of a dedicated research and development hub in New York City's Flatiron District to accelerate BTQ's broader quantum-secure silicon roadmap, while making key hires to significantly expand its Quantum Compute in Memory (QCIM) engineering team.

BTQ's strategic hires to expand the QCIM team includes senior engineers from Apple, Meta and PsiQuantum, Samsung and SandboxAQ, Texas Instruments, and Tokyo Electron. Together, these hires bring deep, hands-on experience across quantum control systems, advanced silicon design, semiconductor manufacturing workflows, and post-quantum cryptography.

With this new commercialization hub and the addition of a senior engineering team drawn from leading technology and semiconductor organizations, BTQ is positioning QCIM for the next phase of execution, focused on silicon validation, system-level integration, and commercial deployment.

BTQ Announces QPerfect and SDT Launch MIMIQ™-Powered Quantum Emulation Service on QUREKA™

BTQ Technologies Corp. has announced that QPerfect (a quantum computing company specializing in quantum emulation and enabling scalable and fault-tolerant architectures, in which BTQ currently holds a 16.67% interest and anticipates acquiring full ownership subject to satisfaction of closing conditions) have entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with SDT Inc., a  South Korea-based quantum design and manufacturing company.

Under this partnership, SDT will integrate QPerfect's high-performance virtual quantum computer MIMIQ™ into SDT's QUREKA™ hybrid quantum platform to launch a new cloud-based quantum emulation service designed for research institutions, industrial R&D teams, and enterprise innovation programs.

In the context of the working agreement, SDT will operate and commercialize the customer-facing service within QUREKA, while QPerfect provides and maintains the MIMIQ back end in a secure European cloud environment. The service has been available since February 1, 2026.

Quantum Infrastructure & Investment

Singapore Makes Quantum a Pillar of S$37 Billion Innovation Strategy

Singapore is directing a share of a newly approved S$37 billion (US$29.3 billion) through 2030 to quantum technology, which is positioned as a pillar of the country's long-term economic strategy. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said that the funding, allocated through the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2030 plan, will support emerging sectors such as quantum technology.

Pasqal in Talks to Raise €200 Million at Unicorn Valuation, Bloomberg Reports

Pasqal is in talks to raise €200 million in a funding round that would value the French quantum computing startup at more than $1 billion pre-money, according to Bloomberg. The deal has not been finalized, and terms could change, indicating that the discussions are private and fluid.

Tennessee Commits $20M to New Quantum Initiative as EPB Secures $4M Federal Grant

Tennessee officials and EPB Quantum Computing have announced new state ($20 million) and federal funding ($4 million) allocations totaling $24 million for quantum computing initiatives in the state. The announcements were made separately by Governor Bill Lee and EPB and were disclosed on the same day.

Chiral Raises $12 Million to Unlock Post-Silicon Computing Beyond Moore’s Law

Chiral, a Swiss nanotechnology company pioneering next-generation semiconductor and quantum technologies with nanomaterials, has announced the successful closing of a $12 million seed financing round to commercialize wafer-scale integration of nanomaterials for post-silicon semiconductor and quantum chips.

Quantum in Industry

Xanadu and Lockheed Martin Launch Joint Research Initiative to Redefine the Foundations of Quantum Machine Learning

Xanadu, a global leader in quantum computing software and quantum-photonic hardware, has announced a new research initiative with Lockheed Martin, a leading global defense and technology company, to advance the foundational theory and emerging applications of Quantum Machine Learning (QML).

This new collaboration will study quantum generative models and explore how quantum computers can use Fourier-based operations that are fundamentally inaccessible to classical machine learning methods, opening up new potential applications to the design of complex experiments in industries such as defense, finance, and pharmaceuticals.

By tackling open questions at the intersection of quantum theory and machine learning, Xanadu and Lockheed Martin aim to lay the groundwork for future breakthroughs in both research and real-world applications.

Qunnect and Cisco Demonstrate Metro-Scale, High-Speed Quantum Entanglement Swapping Over Commercial Fiber

Qunnect has announced a new entanglement swapping demonstration, the first of its kind, deployed over 17.6 kilometers metro-scale fiber using a commercial quantum networking system. The demonstration, which achieved record entanglement swapping rates, combined Qunnect’s room-temperature quantum hardware with Cisco’s quantum networking software stack.

The landmark demonstration, conducted by the companies on Qunnect’s GothamQ testbed, which runs throughout New York City, achieved reported swapping rates of 1.7 million pairs per hour locally and 5,400 pairs per hour over deployed fiber, nearly 10,000 times better than previous benchmarks using similar platforms, while maintaining greater than 99% polarization fidelity.

The key performance milestones of the system are as follows:

  • High Throughput: Record swapping rates of 1.7M+ pairs/hour (local) and 5,400 pairs/hour (deployed).

  • Signal stability: Maintaining ultra-high quality entanglement across all nodes using a fully automated, 24/7 operational system.

  • Cost-effective architecture: Significant cost reduction for the entire network scaling architecture.

  • Untethered scalability: Independent entanglement sources require no shared lasers, allowing for modular network expansion.

Quantum Computing Breakthroughs

Comcast, Classiq, and AMD Demonstrate Quantum Algorithm for More Resilient Internet

Classiq, Comcast, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) have announced the completion of a groundbreaking joint trial aimed at improving internet delivery by leveraging quantum algorithms to supercharge network routing resilience and backup path identification.

Infleqtion And NASA to Fly The World’s First Quantum Gravity Sensor to Space

Infleqtion has announced its role as a collaborator on NASA’s Quantum Gravity Gradiometer Pathfinder (QGGPf) mission. Led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the mission will fly the first standalone quantum gravity sensor in low Earth orbit (LEO), with a planned launch around 2030.

New App Teaches Players About Quantum Computing as They Build a Quantum Computing Company

Researchers at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB) and the Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB) at the University of Barcelona have released Quantum Tycoon, a free educational game designed to introduce quantum computing concepts to a general audience through interactive gameplay.

Ameritec IPS Announces QAmChain Post-Quantum Blockchain and QB-CURE Biometric Wallet

Ameritec IPS, the U.S.-based cybersecurity and blockchain company that developed the HEWE (Health and Wealth) digital asset ecosystem and its underlying AmChain blockchain, has announced the upcoming launch of two new products, QAmChain and QB-CURE Wallet, designed to bring post-quantum security to its platform.

SoftBank, HorizonX Join QAI Ventures to Build Singapore Quantum Hub

QAI Ventures, the leading global investor and ecosystem builder in quantum and advanced computing technologies, through strategic partnerships with SoftBank Corp. and HorizonX, is launching a specialized industry cluster in Singapore to accelerate the commercialization of quantum-classical hybrid computing.

The joint initiative aims to unite industry leaders across four primary industry verticals, with the goal of moving quantum technologies from research to enterprise-scale deployment in alignment with Singapore’s RIE2030 roadmap. The four verticals comprise:

  • Communications & Networks (Telecommunication, Cybersecurity, Data)

  • Financial Services (Banking, Fintech, Insurance)

  • Industrials (Energy, Manufacturing, Space)

  • Life Sciences (Pharma & Healthcare)

To achieve long-term resilience, QAI Ventures is integrating specialized education and infrastructure leadership into the core of its clusters. This initiative supports the Singapore Government’s commitment to growing a high-caliber quantum talent base.

Quantum Security & Blockchain

01 Quantum Announces Launching of $qONE token and the Quantum-Resistant Layer 1 Migration Toolkit by qLABS

01 Quantum Inc., an enterprise-level cybersecurity provider for the quantum computing era, has announced the launch of $qONE token and the Layer 1 migration toolkit designed to help blockchains transition to post-quantum security, developed in collaboration with qLABS, a crypto foundation focused on securing digital assets against future quantum computing threats.

Tectonic Labs Announces PQ Wallet, PQ Audits as Web3 Prepares for Post-Quantum Signature Migration

Tectonic Labs announced that it has launched PQ Wallet, a post-quantum-ready EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) wallet extension for Ethereum and EVM chains supporting Falcon-512 signatures, alongside PQ Audits to help teams assess quantum risk and plan NIST-aligned executable migration under real constraints.

📊Market Insights

Google Calls on Governments And Industry to Prepare Now For Quantum-Era Cybersecurity

Google, one of the global leaders in quantum computing, is urging governments, companies, and critical infrastructure operators to accelerate preparations for the quantum computing era, warning that today’s encryption systems could be broken sooner than many expect and outlining the company’s own commitments to post-quantum security.

The tech giant says it has been preparing for a post-quantum world since 2016, rolling out quantum-resistant protections across its infrastructure while aligning its migration plans with NIST standards finalized in 2024.

Google offered the following recommendations to policymakers:

  • Drive society-wide momentum

  • Ensure artificial intelligence systems are built with PQC in mind

  • Global adoption of NIST-approved standards

  • Transition to cloud-first modernization

  • Engage continuously with research groups and quantum specialists

📬 Stay Connected

February saw an increase in investments and collaborations between quantum companies and with other tech companies, and the concerted efforts to deploy quantum technologies outside of research laboratories. Also, a new federal government proposal to limit the access of foreign researchers at national labs is rattling Colorado's fast-growing quantum industry. Furthermore, Google is urging governments, companies, and critical infrastructure operators to accelerate preparations for the quantum computing era.

Across the board:

  • More investments are flowing in, with multi-million-dollar allocations for quantum infrastructure development and serial funding for partnerships geared toward quantum advancement.

  • Strategic partnerships are on the increase, from BTQ–SDT to Xanadu–Lockheed Martin to Qunnect–Cisco.

  • Quantum era cybersecurity is becoming a concern, as Google calls on governments, companies, and critical infrastructure operators to accelerate preparations for the quantum computing era.

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