![\"man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NewsomQC-crop-1024x585.jpg\")
Newsom talking with quantum scientist Akel Hashim in the Campbell Hall lab of Irfan Siddiqi.<\/p>\nVisiting UC Berkeley\u2019s Campbell Hall today, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to create \u201cquantum innovation zones\u201d across the state, positioning the campus as a leader in the race to establish California and the Bay Area as a center of an emerging economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The innovation zones will leverage California\u2019s leading edge in quantum computing and research, stimulating the economy and generating jobs in what is expected to be a trillion-dollar-plus industry.<\/p>\n
Newsom also spoke to reporters and toured three quantum computing labs at Berkeley \u2014\u00a0among the many quantum research endeavors on campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was amazing to walk in the labs downstairs and to see the world here at UC Berkeley,\u201d Newsom said. \u201c\u2026 I\u2019m very proud to be part of this inclusive community here at UC Berkeley and the remarkable ecosystem that\u2019s been built up over the course of decades \u2014 to be here with people that aren\u2019t just the best and the brightest, but truly represent the best and the brightest around the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quantum computers work a lot differently than today\u2019s digital computers. The quantum bits, or qubits, in a quantum computer are entangled in a way that allows some types of computations that are not possible with a digital computer. But the quantum economy extends beyond computers to other types of applications, including secure telecommunications and new types of sensors that rely upon the quantum nature of particles and light.<\/p>\n
Newsom talking with quantum scientist Akel Hashim in the Campbell Hall lab of Irfan Siddiqi.<\/p>\n
Office of Governor Gavin Newsom<\/p>\n
Assembly Bill 940 tasks innovation zones with identifying projects and programs that best utilize public dollars to \u201csupport the development of the quantum computing economy.\u201d The bill was introduced by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Berkeley) after discussions with Berkeley faculty members Steve Kahn, dean of physical and mathematical sciences, and Irfan Siddiqi, who chairs the physics department.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had lunch with the chancellor and some of the research folks from Cal about a year and a half ago, where they said to me, \u2018We\u2019re going to lose out on quantum unless we do something,’\u201d Wicks said at Friday\u2019s news conference. \u201cWe have the academic research to support these newer technologies. We have a private sector that wants to invest in this. We need the state to have skin in the game, and we need the state to demonstrate that we\u2019re \u2026 actually going to lead on quantum research here in California.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t just (for) San Francisco, Los Angeles. This is technology that\u2019s going to benefit communities far and wide of all shapes and sizes and colors and socioeconomic experiences,\u201d Wicks added. The legislation \u201csigned today is really California planting their flag to lead this industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chancellor Rich Lyons thanked the lawmakers. \u201cBerkeley is thrilled and honored to be the launchpad for \u2018Quantum California,\u2019 the state\u2019s effort to support the best research facilities, to foster the quantum industry and build the quantum workforce. The promise of this science is exciting. We can envision its benefits in cybersecurity, drug discovery, new materials, scientific simulations and other massive computing problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NewsomSmiling-crop-1024x585.jpg\")
Newsom holding a piece of hardware engraved with the Cal logo.<\/p>\n
Keegan Houser\/UC Berkeley<\/p>\n
He mentioned that the campus is creating a \u201cQuantum Nexus\u201d that will open this fall in the old Masonic Temple in downtown Berkeley. It will be a place for scientists, students, policymakers and industry leaders to convene and collaborate around quantum science. The Quantum Nexus will build on state-wide leadership provided by the Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation<\/a>, a collaboration that is funded by the National Science Foundation and that draws together academic powerhouses across California \u2014 UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Caltech, Stanford and soon the California State University \u2014 for coordinated research and education initiatives.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see this as crucial to ensuring the partnership necessary to establish quantum information as the engine for the next major technical revolution in California and around the world,\u201d Lyons said. \u201cThe discoveries that happen here on the Berkeley campus become the technologies, goods and services that advance the health, well-being and security of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n Upon arriving at Campbell Hall this morning, Newsom was whisked into the belly of Campbell Hall, the home of numerous campus labs focused on quantum computing. Siddiqi gave the governor a tour of his lab, handing him a sample quantum processor a centimeter on a side that includes about a dozen \u2018qubits\u2019 \u2014 the quantum bits at the core of quantum computers.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s it? That\u2019s literally it?\u201d Newsom said in amazement, as scientists and graduate students from Berkeley and Berkeley Lab gathered round to share their research.<\/p>\n \u201cThis bill lowers the barriers for companies to stay in California,\u201d Siddiqi said, \u201cleveraging all the quantum resources in the state,\u00a0<\/p>\n Siddiqi, who focuses on solid-state qubits, said that collaboration could give rise to \u201cQuantum Valley,\u201d akin to Silicon Valley.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NewsomStudents-1024x585.jpg\")
Newsom talks with students in the lab of Dan Stamper-Kurn.<\/p>\n