There’s a quantum paradox in Washington.

The state has strong ingredients for a quantum technology hub: powerful giants like Microsoft and Amazon, a hardware leader in IonQ, and world-class research at UW and PNNL. Yet it may be falling behind states like Illinois, Montana, and Colorado that are pushing forward on quantum.

Washington needs more speed and a better strategy to help bolster the region’s quantum ecosystem, according to panelists who spoke this week in Seattle at a Tech Alliance event focused on quantum technologies, which aim to solve complex problems and power new innovations faster than traditional computers.

Rep. Stephanie Barnard, a Republican who represents the 8th Legislative District in Eastern Washington, expressed a desire to inject $100 million as a way “to get quantum going where it needs to be.”

“It takes courage. It takes dynamic leadership,” Barnard said. “It takes a political will to recognize the needs of this state.”

But financial woes pose a roadblock with the state facing revenue declines. Beau Perschbacher, policy advisor for Gov. Bob Ferguson, offered a reality check.

“Big new significant investments at this time [are] going to be very hard,” he said, while suggesting the state focus on coordination and workforce strategy in the short-term.

“We don’t have to make a huge capital investment — but you can still really advance the cause,” he said.

Other states are charging ahead. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker recently earmarked $500 million for a quantum campus near Chicago. States including Montana, Maryland, Colorado are moving forward on strategy and workforce investment.

Barnard suggested that Washington might need to stop subsidizing established industries to fund emerging ones. She pointed to the hundreds of millions the state has invested in solar incentives.

“If you subsidized quantum $300 million over the next 10 years, think of where you would be,” she said. “So we need to maybe shift priorities.”

Washington state had budget language for a quantum strategy in 2025, but it was vetoed due to fiscal constraints, with the Department of Commerce directed to pursue partnerships and policy recommendations.

Quantum researchers will “go to where the funding is and where the environment favors success,” said University of Washington professor Charles Marcus, who serves as director of Northwest Quantum Nexus, a public-private coalition supporting the growth of the state’s quantum ecosystem.

Marcus called on companies to support a dedicated master’s program to churn out graduates ready to work immediately.

“The master’s program is what industry needs regionally,” said Marcus, “It needs a small number of PhDs, but it needs a large number of masters.”

Marcus described the quantum race as one “in which, if you’re standing still, you’re going backwards.”

Momentum has been building to help boost Washington’s position in quantum. In 2023, regional tech leaders said Washington had a chance to create a “Quantum Valley” modeled after Silicon Valley. 

Laura Ruderman, CEO of Tech Alliance who moderated the panel discussion this week, suggested that the near-term prescription isn’t to build a new initiative but rather scaling what already exists. “We need to fund NQN,” she said, referencing the Northwest Quantum Nexus, which was founded in 2019 by UW, Microsoft, and PNNL.

Margaret Arakawa, CMO of quantum giant IonQ, which recently opened the first dedicated quantum computer manufacturing facility in the U.S. near Seattle, said Washington’s leaders need to show up publicly and enlist private funding partners. She said states that are winning have governors who make quantum a visible priority and then bring industry in to co-invest.

“Please let it happen now, and don’t wait,” Arakawa urged.