The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy has selected 10 projects to receive a combined $37 million in funding under the Quantum Computing for Computational Chemistry, or QC3, program, an initiative aimed at advancing quantum algorithms for chemistry and materials science applications tied to energy technologies.
ARPA-E said Thursday the selected teams will develop quantum computing approaches that could accelerate breakthroughs in areas such as superconducting transmission lines, advanced batteries, rare-earth-free magnets, and new catalysts for fertilizer and fuel production.
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Which Projects Were Selected?
Among the projects selected for funding is Boeing’s Quantum Innovation for Corrosion Kinetics project, which will develop quantum computing methods to model chemical reactions that cause corrosion. The approach is expected to improve modeling speed and accuracy by up to 100 times, supporting the development of corrosion-resistant alloys for aviation, steel infrastructure and next-generation battery technologies. Boeing’s project received $2.5 million in funding.
Another selected effort is PsiQuantum’s Quantum-Enabled Direct Methane-to-Methanol project, which will leverage fault-tolerant quantum computing workflows integrating quantum chemistry simulations, classical computation and high-throughput experimentation in the design of new catalysts for direct methane conversion. The project received $3.6 million in funding.
Other projects include work by national laboratories, universities and private companies such as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Infleqtion, Quantinuum, Phasecraft, California Institute of Technology and Xanadu Quantum Technologies.
“ARPA-E is working to move quantum computing out of academic journals and into applications that innovate how Americans access energy,” said ARPA-E Director Conner Prochaska.
“QC3 is ARPA-E’s first contribution to the quantum ecosystem at the heart of the U.S. government’s mission to cultivate the next frontier of computing and convert technical advances into competitive advantages for America’s energy dominance, economy, and national security,” he added.
What Is the QC3 Program?
The QC3 initiative focuses on developing and optimizing the entire quantum computing stack, including applications, algorithms and error-correction methods. Project teams must demonstrate that their algorithms offer scalable quantum advantage over classical computing approaches and execute their work on real quantum hardware.
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