Quantum rush: The Denver-Boulder area is poised to become the Silicon Valley of the future

This story is part of CNBC’s quarterly Cities of Success series, which highlights cities which have transformed into business centers with an entrepreneurial spirit which have attracted capital, corporations and staff.

Imagine a world where computers solve problems billions of times faster than today’s machines, ushering in a brand new era of scientific discovery.

That’s the promise of quantum technology — and there is a fierce race on to unlock its potential. In the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, the Denver-Boulder region is emerging as a world leader on this revolution.

Atom Computing is headquartered in the San Francisco area, but CEO Rob Hays told CNBC in a recent interview why his quantum company selected the city of Boulder for its latest $100 million facility: the region’s thriving ecosystem.

“The future looks vivid for us.[…]We’ve built two of the largest quantum computers in the world,” Hays said on the CNBC special “Cities of Success: Denver & Boulder,” airing April 11 at 10 p.m. ET. . “The fact that we were able to do this in 18 months is quite extraordinary.”

In Denver, Maybell Quantum, another key industry player, is building a superfridge that cools atoms to extreme temperatures — more than 100,000 times colder than the coldest part of Antarctica.

“That’s 10 millikelvins,” said Maybell Quantum CEO Corban Tillemann-Dick. This corresponds to a negative value of 441.67 degrees Fahrenheit.

Why so cold? Freezing conditions are necessary for quantum computers to function. The supercooled environment helps minimize even the smallest vibrations that can disrupt the quantum chip’s delicate subatomic calculations.

Just as semiconductors power the powerful computers and networking devices that made today’s complex Internet possible, Tillemann-Dick said the next big thing could be quantum technology.

“For the next 100 years, this technology will be as important as semiconductors [were to] internet or cellular technology. It will transform everything, from medicine to defense to agriculture,” he said.

The CEO said he envisions data centers filled with rows of quantum computers solving the world’s most pressing problems.

“There will come a time some time in the future… you will walk into a data center and there will be thousands of them [quantum computers] set up in the same way as today’s servers, supporting workloads from around the world, to solve these critical problems,” he said.

Physicist Richard Feynman is credited with pioneering the concept of quantum computing in the 1980s. A lot of time has passed since then. According to McKinseyThe four industries likely to see the most growth from quantum computing – automotive, chemicals, financial services and life sciences – are expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2035.

Helping Colorado boom, the Biden-Harris administration recently designated the Denver-Aurora region as one of 31 “tech hubs” in the United States. This designation is part of a program of investments in regions with high growth potential in key technology sectors.

Leading the initiative to strengthen Colorado’s position as a quantum leader is Elevate Quantum Colorado, a private-public consortium of more than 100 organizations, including the University of Colorado at Boulder and other higher education institutions, state and local governments, federal laboratories and private companies .

“The idea is to create Silicon Valleys where none currently exists, against the most important technologies of our time,” said Zachary Yerushalmi, CEO of Elevate Quantum Colorado.

Yerushalmi noted that the federal designation will make the state one of the few quantum hubs in the entire country.

“We competed against 400 candidates from all over the country and we are lucky to be selected as one of three,” Yerushalmi explained. “This is where it gets really hot…we are competing for $70 million from the federal government.”

Only a few centers will be selected for funding, and Yerushalmi says he is optimistic about their chances and expects a decision later this year.

Meanwhile, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a firm believer in the potential of quantum technology, is upping the ante. In February, his administration unveiled plans to invest an additional $74 million in the quantum industry over five to nine years if Colorado becomes one of the regions selected to receive federal funds.

“I’m bullish on quantum technology,” Polis told CNBC in a recent interview. – I think it’s time.

JOIN: The “Cities of Success” special featuring Denver and Boulder will air on CNBC on April 11 at 10 p.m. ET.

Correction: Maybell Quantum is constructing an excellent fridge that cools atoms to temperatures greater than 100,000 times colder than the coldest part of Antarctica. An earlier version of this story misstated this metric.