Supply Chain Framework Report
Executive Summary
The Air Force Research Laboratory partnered with SRI to develop a framework for tracking the global quantum supply chain. SRI engaged with several private and public sector organizations, including QED-C member companies, to inform a practical framework.
The resulting framework organizes technology components and materials according to a view of the quantum stack, which includes key supply chain elements for quantum technologies such as computing, sensing and metrology, and communications and networking. At its foundation, the framework tracks the technology components and materials that make up the quantum stack and the entities that produce them. This who-makes-what use case was identified as a priority by virtually all the stakeholders.
Given the scope and diversity of quantum technologies, the framework prioritizes what is monitored in two key ways. First, it includes only a subset of the overall quantum supply chain, specifically, a subset of elements about which there is the greatest concern regarding supply. Second, for these important elements, the framework tracks only the most important upstream inputs.
Companies are unwilling to share information on their customers and suppliers, so the framework does not require any tracking of entity-to-entity connections. Every component and material is associated with one or more entities. Each component and material may also be associated with one or more other components or materials. Supply chain tiers are captured via this connection from component-to-component or component-to-material.
A supply chain tracking tool that implements this framework could answer a range of questions, such as:
- Where are key components and materials available?
- What markets that are adjacent to a manufacturer’s existing technologies indicate significant unmet demand from current suppliers?
- For what components and materials is a supply chain dependent on a single supplier?
- In what areas of the quantum supply chain should a government invest?
- What domestic suppliers currently provide key technologies?
- What share of suppliers for a given technology component or material are domestic?
- What markets that are adjacent to a manufacturer’s existing technologies indicate significant unmet demand from current suppliers?