ThinkTankWeekly

Government as a Demand Creator for the Quantum Industry

CSIS | 2026-03-19 | tech

Topics: AI, Europe, Indo-Pacific, Trade, United States

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English Summary

This CSIS report argues that the U.S. government must transition from a mere R&D funder to a strategic 'demand creator' to help the quantum industry bridge the 'valley of death' between research and commercial deployment. The authors highlight that high technical uncertainty and long development timelines have left private investment insufficient, particularly when compared to the massive capital flows into AI. To overcome this, the report recommends institutionalizing guaranteed purchase commitments—modeled after Operation Warp Speed—and utilizing flexible contracting mechanisms to provide the market certainty needed to scale quantum computing, sensing, and networking infrastructure.

中文摘要

這份 CSIS 報告指出,美國政府必須從單純的研發資助者轉型為策略性的「需求創造者」,以協助量子產業跨越研究與商業應用間的「死亡之谷」。作者強調,技術的高度不確定性與漫長的研發時程,導致民間投資不足,尤其是在與人工智慧領域龐大的資金流入相比之下。為了解決此一問題,報告建議參照「神速行動」(Operation Warp Speed)模式,將保證採購承諾制度化,並利用靈活的合約機制,提供擴展量子運算、感測及網路基礎設施所需的市場確定性。

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