EO-14413
Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation
- Signed
- Jun 22, 2026
- Published
- Jun 25, 2026
Federal Register: 2026-12910
Source: Federal Register.
Federal Push to Advance U.S. Quantum Technology Leadership
Impact4/10
What it does
This order directs multiple federal agencies to coordinate a government-wide effort to accelerate the development, commercialization, and protection of quantum information science and technology (QIST). It establishes a new national quantum computing program (QC-ADDS) aimed at building a large-scale quantum computer housed at a Department of Energy facility. It also directs agencies to develop workforce training plans, strengthen domestic supply chains, expand counterintelligence protections for quantum research, and align international partnerships to support U.S. quantum industry competitiveness.
Who benefits
U.S. quantum computing and technology companies seeking federal contracts, partnerships, and advance market commitments. Academic researchers and national laboratories gaining access to new quantum computing facilities. Workers and students entering QIST-related fields through new apprenticeships, training institutes, and government recruitment incentives. Defense and intelligence agencies gaining improved quantum sensing and cryptography tools. Allied nations whose companies may gain access to trusted quantum supply chains. Smaller quantum hardware and component manufacturers who would benefit from domestic foundry access and NSF grants.
Who is affected
Foreign technology companies — particularly those from "countries of concern" — that would face tighter export controls and investment restrictions on quantum-enabling technologies. U.S. universities and research institutions that may face new security requirements and counterintelligence oversight of their quantum research programs. Federal employees in QIST roles who would be subject to new recruitment and retention frameworks. Taxpayers who would fund the QC-ADDS program and related agency plans, the full cost of which is not specified in the order. Classical computing contractors whose work may be displaced or deprioritized as agencies shift resources toward quantum applications.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that quantum computing represents a generational technological shift — one that could reshape cryptography, drug discovery, materials science, and national security — and that without coordinated federal investment, the United States risks ceding leadership to strategic competitors. They contend that the order's whole-of-government approach, combining research funding, workforce development, supply chain hardening, and allied coordination, mirrors the kind of sustained national effort that produced past U.S. technological advantages, and that early federal commitment would lower costs and accelerate timelines for commercial quantum applications that would benefit the broader economy.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that the order concentrates federal resources behind a technology whose commercial timeline remains deeply uncertain, risking the misallocation of public funds toward applications that may be decades away or never materialize at scale. They contend that government-directed industrial planning — including advance market commitments and prize challenges — may distort private investment, crowd out competing research priorities, and favor politically connected firms over more innovative startups. Critics also raise concerns that expanded counterintelligence oversight of academic quantum research could chill international scientific collaboration and restrict the open exchange of ideas that has historically driven U.S. technological leadership.
Constitutional basis
Executive orders rest on constitutional authority or statutory delegation. This summary describes the legal grounding cited or implied by the order.
The order rests on the President's Article II authority to direct the executive branch and manage federal agencies, as well as statutory authority under the National Quantum Initiative Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-368), which explicitly authorizes and funds a coordinated federal quantum research program. Specific agency actions — such as NSF grants, Department of Energy facility investments, and export control coordination — are further grounded in existing statutory delegations to those agencies. Because the order directs planning, reporting, and coordination rather than imposing new regulations on private parties, it operates squarely within established executive branch management authority and does not require new congressional authorization for most of its directives.