White House announces $75 million for new 'Quantum Leap' institutes

The Colorado institute will focus on quantum sensor research, while the Illinois center will focus on quantum architectures and networks and the California center will focus on quantum computing.

The White House announced Tuesday the award of $75 million by the National Science Foundation for new institutes at three U.S. universities to boost quantum information research.

The new "Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes" will each receive $25 million and be housed at the University of Colorado, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of California, Berkeley. The Colorado institute will focus on quantum sensor research, while the Illinois center will focus on quantum architectures and networks and the California center will focus on quantum computing. Quantum computing aims to operate millions of times faster than today's advanced supercomputers.