In a low-slung Maryland lab, scientists are racing to build a machine that could help turn cancer into a manageable disease while simultaneously threatening the cryptography that shields everything from hospital records to nuclear secrets. The same quantum hardware that might one day design safer drugs in hours could also rip through the passwords and public-key systems that underpin the internet. That tension, between medical miracle and security nightmare, is exactly why Maryland has decided to bet big on becoming the capital of this technology.
Gov. Wes Moore has framed quantum computing as a “lighthouse industry” for Maryland, and the state has lined up more than $1 billion to anchor that vision in College Park and beyond. The stakes are not abstract: researchers in This Maryland lab are already using quantum mechanics to tackle problems that classical supercomputers cannot touch, even as security experts warn that the same breakthroughs could upend digital trust long before any treatments ever go to human trials.
Maryland’s quantum bet and the lab at the center
Maryland’s push starts with a dense cluster of researchers and companies around the University of Maryland, where a formal initiative known as Quantum at Maryland ties together physics, engineering, and computer science. The scientists in This Maryland lab hope to use quantum mechanics to craft a new type of computer that can perform tasks impossible for today’s machines, from simulating complex molecules to optimizing vast datasets, and they are explicit that cancer is one of the first big targets. Reporting on the facility describes researchers building systems that exploit fragile quantum states to explore treatment strategies that would be computationally out of reach on even the largest classical clusters.
Gov. Wes Moore has tried to turn that scientific edge into an economic and political project, securing more than $1 billion in funding and branding Maryland as the “Capital of Quantum.” In a formal announcement, the state described how “Through Governor Moore’s strategic economic development initiative and investment in quantum, he is not only supporting cutting-edge research but also strengthening the economy of Maryland and the State of Maryland,” a message reinforced in the Capital of Quantum initiative. Coverage of the lab notes that Gov. Wes Moore, who calls quantum computing a lighthouse industry for Maryland, has secured more than $1 billion in funding to back the effort, and that This Maryland lab’s quantum computer is already being framed as a test case for whether that investment can translate into both lifesaving therapies and new cybersecurity risks, as detailed in the reporting on Gov. Wes Moore.
From Deep Quantum Legacy to billion‑dollar ecosystem
The lab’s rise did not happen in a vacuum. For years, UMD has cultivated what it calls a Deep Quantum Legacy, including early work that helped spin out the hardware company IonQ. That legacy is now being extended through a new Microsoft quantum research center in the Discovery District, where UMD and IonQ have built a multifaceted partnership that feeds talent and ideas into the local ecosystem. The broader Q3 initiative at Quantum at Maryland aims to create more quantum-related educational tools, provide learning and networking opportunities, and teach engineers, scientists, and policymakers about the technology and its implications.
On the corporate side, IonQ has become a flagship for Maryland’s ambitions, with its trapped-ion hardware marketed globally through its commercial platform. The Maryland Board of Public Works has approved a $5 million grant for IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) to support the design and construction of its new global headquarters, a move detailed in a report on Maryland Board of. A separate account notes that Maryland awarded $5 million to IonQ for a future headquarters in College Park’s 150-acre Discovery District, underscoring how the state is tying physical infrastructure to its quantum strategy, as described in the College Park coverage.
How a quantum computer might make cancer less deadly
The medical promise that gives this story its emotional charge is not science fiction. Researchers at the CU Cancer Center, backed by an AB Nexus Grant, are already using quantum computing to Perfect Drugs for Colorectal Cancer, arguing that the technology will help them explore far more molecular candidates than classical tools can handle, as described in the report that “Nexus Grant Will Help CU Cancer Center Researchers Use Quantum Computing” to Going quantum. A separate analysis argues that quantum computers are ideally suited to attack a disease that manifests in thousands of confusing mutations, suggesting that by simulating those variations at scale, quantum algorithms could help make cancer more like a chronic condition than a death sentence, an idea explored in a feature on Sometimes cancer.
Drug Discovery efforts are already pairing quantum hardware with artificial intelligence, as seen in the Moderna-IBM partnership highlighted in a piece on how Drug Discovery is changing. In another example, researchers describe how artificial intelligence and quantum computing are coming together to target an aggressive cancer, acknowledging that the combination is “a little bit scary” precisely because it is so powerful, a sentiment captured in a video on how researchers are using these tools. The scientists in This Maryland lab are working in the same conceptual space, hoping to use quantum mechanics to explore treatment strategies that classical computers simply cannot address, as detailed in the description that This Maryland lab’s quantum computer could help design therapies long before the treatments ever go to human trials, a point reinforced in the This Maryland reporting.
The password problem: quantum as a security wrecking ball
The same properties that make quantum computers so attractive for simulating molecules also make them dangerous for today’s encryption. Current computers cannot crack the public-key encryption that protects everything from your bank account to national secrets, but quantum algorithms running on sufficiently powerful hardware could, a risk spelled out in a UMD explainer on why Current computers fall short. One widely shared warning, delivered in a talk titled “Quantum Computing Will Break All Encryption in 5 Years,” argues that as quantum machines scale, they will be able to tear through classical cryptosystems that were never designed to withstand such attacks, a concern highlighted in the video at this lecture.
Security researchers describe a “harvest now, decrypt later” threat, in which adversaries collect encrypted data today in the expectation that future quantum machines will eventually unlock it. Jim Purtilo, a computer scientist at UMD, has argued that 2026 Is the Year Quantum Computing Gets Serious About Security, warning that organizations need to protect data and the intellectual property that underpins them before large-scale quantum systems arrive, a point laid out in his analysis on Year Quantum Computing. Another expert, Michele Mosca, has described a paradox in which the same quantum opportunity that promises advances in medicine and logistics also threatens the very foundation of digital security infrastructure, a warning captured in a discussion of how “But there’s a paradox to all this quantum computing opportunity” in a podcast on quantum security precipice.
National security, ARLIS, and the new arms race
Maryland’s quantum buildout is not just about medicine and finance, it is also tightly bound to national security. Under the new agreement with ARLIS, IonQ will design and build a two-node quantum computing system that will enable hands-on research in support of national security missions, as described in the partnership announcement that begins “Under the new agreement with” Under the ARLIS collaboration. The Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security itself is presented as a hub for classified and sensitive work, and its public materials describe how ARLIS integrates academic research with intelligence community needs.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
