Quantum computer developer IonQ has announced the opening of "the first dedicated quantum computer manufacturing plant in the United States," which will be located in a suburb of Seattle. The new facility will include both manufacturing facilities and facilities to house the R&D team.

The 6,000 m2 plant will be located in Bothell, a suburb of Seattle. There are already companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Panasonic and Seattle Genetics, as well as a lot of scientific institutions like the University of Washington. The IonQ campus will host both the quantum data center and the company's main manufacturing facilities in North America. IonQ is expected to create thousands of new jobs in the coming years.

According to the head of IonQ Peter Chapman, quantum computing will be the key to solving many of the world's problems, including climate change, energy shortages and logistics problems. The Seattle area has been a hub for technical innovation for decades, and there is also a wealth of skilled workforce. The project will be supervised by Dr. Dave Mehuys, one of the former top managers of PsiQuantum with many years of experience in the field of quantum computing.

The announcement is the latest in a string of moves by IonQ in the US Pacific Northwest. It is known that in 2022, the company, together with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) of the country's Department of Energy, announced the organization of a sustainable supply of barium qubits for the next generation of IonQ quantum computers.

In addition, IonQ quantum systems are already available on two cloud platforms in the region - Amazon Braket and Azure Quantum. Last year, the IonQ Aria computer received the name of the most powerful quantum computer in the world with an #AQ (Algorithmic Qubit) score of 23. Among the companies and structures that have concluded corporate and federal contracts for the supply of new equipment are Airbus, GE, Dow Chemistry, Hyundai Motors, the University of Maryland, and even the US Air Force Research Laboratory.