Austin Mayor Backs Quantum Technology Campus for Students
News related to:Occam Foundry · 3 min read
AUSTIN, TX, UNITED STATES, September 28, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and The University of Texas at Austin's TACC have announced their support for Occam Foundry, a commercialization campus for quantum technology planned for 16.5 acres in southeastern Travis County. The campus, which is slated to open to Austin-area public school teachers and students, will offer classroom visits, teacher training, and a pipeline into the trades and technical roles the facility needs. This support comes as part of the Texas Quantum Initiative, a legislative creation under HB 4751 in 2025.
Mayor Watson's office and the City's economic development staff are collaborating with Occam Foundry on site readiness and permitting. Under the memorandum of understanding, The University of Texas at Austin, acting through the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), will support the development of the campus in Austin. In turn, Occam Foundry will support TACC's quantum education and workforce programs, including K-12 quantum education and professional development for teachers. The organizations plan to explore joint education and workforce programming, as well as applications for federal, state, and philanthropic funding.
Mayor Watson's letter, dated September 10, highlighted the importance of the campus in the context of the Texas Quantum Initiative, which aims to position Texas as a leader in quantum technology.
The Texas Quantum Initiative, established in 2025, has set a 2028 target for a scientific-scale quantum computer and deadlines of 2030 and 2031 for moving federal systems to post-quantum cryptography. The initiative aims to position Texas as a leader in quantum technology, which is expected to play a significant role in the future, including in the development of quantum systems, sensors, and secure networks.
The release also notes that a fifth grader in Austin today will graduate from high school in 2034, by which time the quantum systems, sensors, and secure networks being built now will have reached the workforce that will operate them. This timeline underscores the urgency of the initiative, as countries that lead in quantum technology today are training their students for it.
The memorandum of understanding between Occam Foundry and TACC will allow the two organizations to explore joint education and workforce programming, including K-12 quantum education and professional development for teachers. TACC's introductions include other UT Austin units such as the Texas Quantum Initiative and the Cockrell School of Engineering.
The timeline is short. In June, two federal executive orders set a 2028 target for a scientific-scale quantum computer and 2030 and 2031 deadlines for moving federal systems to post-quantum cryptography. Texas hosts none of the research centers created under the National Quantum Initiative Act, while Illinois, Maryland, and Colorado are turning theirs into companies and trained workers. A fifth grader in Austin today will graduate from high school in 2034, by which time the quantum systems, sensors, and secure networks being built now will have reached the workforce that will operate them.
"There is no time to wait," said Matt Cimaglia, Managing Member of Texas Quantum Partners, the developer of Occam Foundry.
Occam Foundry is one node in a national network of quantum technology hubs taking shape across the country. New York, Maryland, Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico, and Arizona each contribute their own research and industry strengths. Silicon Valley concentrated computing in a single region in the 1970s and 1980s. Quantum technology is developing across many regions at once, and a distributed network puts computing, sensing, and secure networking capability in several states, which strengthens both the economy and national security. Occam Foundry gives Texas its node, built around the state's energy, semiconductor, and defense industries and the research base at UT Austin.