EPB is partnering with the quantum computing hardware and software company IonQ of Maryland, which will supply $15 million for the project. The company will also establish an office in Chattanooga to provide support and training on quantum computing, networking and application development.
"The leadership of the city have been unbelievably tech forward over the decades," IonQ President and CEO Niccolo de Masi said in a video interview. "You have the fastest fiber in the nation, and you've built a lot of economic growth around that. You also have, ultimately, the bedrock of a scientific and entrepreneurial community because of that fiber.
"I think quantum computing and quantum networking is very much the next leg of being a tech forward city that's going to attract the next generation of, frankly, talent."
Quantum technology has the potential to quickly solve complex problems that involve massive amounts of data and could, for example, help improve cybersecurity and boost the efficiency of supply chains, among other benefits. Practically, it could also help with routing shipments, trucks, aircraft and traffic.
"The beauty of quantum computing is that most of the world's business problems can be recast as an optimization problem," de Masi said, "and quantum computers are exceptionally good at optimization problems because of that fact that they look at everything in parallel."
IonQ and EPB are working together on the development of a new quantum innovation center, which officials said will house a state-of-the-art IonQ Forte Enterprise quantum computer that the two companies will share. IonQ also has quantum systems in Basel, Switzerland, and Rome, New York, and data centers in Maryland, Washington state and Switzerland.
EPB will sell hours of time on the quantum computer to companies, and EPB CEO David Wade said officials are using a conservative model that he's confident will pay back the utility's investment in less than three years.
"Quantum computing today is a very scarce resource," Wade said during a board meeting Friday. "There's probably less than 200 quantum computers globally today."
Quantum computing and networking could also result in benefits to EPB's customers, the utility said. That could include protecting critical infrastructure from cyber attacks and enhancing EPB's ability to predict outages and upcoming maintenance needs.
"Electric infrastructure is always going to be a target, so anything that strengthens our position and the industry's position from cybersecurity is a good one," said Ryan Keel, president of energy and communications, during the meeting.
Janet Rehberg, president of strategic initiatives, said EPB is working with the Chattanooga Quantum Collaborative, the Company Lab and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on a major project involving grid security. In conjunction with that work, UTC will need some computing hours to build an algorithm for the early detection of hacking.
"There's just so much to do with the utilization of a quantum computer," she said during the meeting. "I see that even locally and kind of globally."
EPB's focus in this area could bring tremendous benefits to the broader Chattanooga community, Wade said. According to the McKinsey Digital Quantum Technology Monitor, key industries could gain $1 trillion to $2 trillion in added value over the next 5-10 years through the early adoption of emerging quantum technologies.
IonQ already acts as EPB's primary technology partner on its quantum network, which the utility unveiled in September 2022 . That went live the following summer.
"When we announced it, there was quite a bit of skepticism," Wade said. "In those two years we've been live, we've made significant progress, really on all fronts."
EPB has more than paid back the initial investment in the network, Wade said, and the utility has built a lot of credibility in the space.
A quantum network is similar in concept to a fiber network, Wade said, but instead of transferring bits, it transfers qubits and can preserve entangled states. Qubits are the basic unit of information in quantum computing. A quantum computer is a physical device that can run applications at a much quicker speed than typical computers.
"If you look at today's classical computers, they operate on the digital principle of doing one thing at a time," Wade said in an interview. "If this happens, do this. If this happens, do that. A quantum computer, the technology can look at the whole landscape all at the same instant, so it's a total paradigm shift from the classical computing. It can perform literally millions of transactions all at the same instant."
Quantum computers will break existing encryption methods and will pose a major cybersecurity threat in the coming years, de Masi said. Quantum networks, however, are the way to prevent that, he said, noting they are completely secure.
"You not only can prevent people from snooping on your data, but you know when they're attempting to snoop," he said. "That's the genius of a quantum network."
IonQ has a small but rapidly growing office in Chattanooga, de Masi said, and EPB has its own employees focused on quantum technology. The company aims to help grow the local startup ecosystem and strike up partnerships with educational institutions. Physics classes in the next five years will include far more information on quantum mechanics, computing and networking, de Masi said.
Chattanooga has attracted some of the greatest entrepreneurs in the nation, de Masi said, and the addition of a quantum computer will accelerate that.
"As the talent pool grows, I think success is only limited by your imagination and learning to use these tools," he said. "Quantum is completely different from classical, so the sooner you learn, the sooner you have a chance to change the world."
Former Chattanooga Mayor Jon Kinsey, who sits on the EPB board, said he expects this investment will move the community forward.
"I can see this bringing a lot of economic benefits to Chattanooga and Hamilton County and the region," he said during the meeting Friday. This investment couldn't happen without the launch of EPB's fiber optic business in 2009, he said.
Charlie Brock, founder of the Chattanooga Quantum Collaborative, said there are very few available quantum computers, and the tool will be a tremendous chance to attract research and development to the city, which could in turn lead to new economic and workforce opportunities.
EPB is building on a foundation it already laid with the launch of its smart grid and high-speed, fiber optic Internet, he said.
"This is a huge exponential step up," Brock said in a phone call.
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