New York City will award New York University US$29.2 million to establish a Quantum Fabrication Facility (QFab) at 770 Broadway, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani, Deputy Mayor Julie Su and NYCEDC President and CEO Anthony Shorris announced. NYCEDC’s press release is dated 14 October 2026; the Mayor’s Office materials are dated October 2026. NYU is committing an additional US$255 million spanning construction and ten years of operations.
The city will also take three seats on the QFab Executive Advisory Board and a revenue share on certain intellectual property — terms the administration calls a first-of-its-kind public stake in an emerging technology lab.
Money and space
Together, the city award and NYU commitment are described as about US$284 million in public and private funding. A transcript of the announcement breaks NYU’s US$255 million into roughly US$100 million capital and US$155 million operating support over ten years.
QFab is expected to span 23,000 square feet at 770 Broadway and to open in 2030. NYCEDC says it is expected to support more than 100 companies and reach 35,000 New Yorkers in its first ten years of operation, including more than 5,000 students through undergraduate and graduate programming, summer bootcamps for New York City Public Schools students, internships, and a new certificate programme at select CUNY schools.
What QFab is meant to offer
According to NYCEDC, the facility will give researchers, students, startups and established companies access to:
- Advanced manufacturing and testing of quantum chips and components, with specialised cleanrooms, cryogenics and equipment
- Workforce development — technician training, CUNY associate and certificate programmes, internships, bootcamps and VR learning
- Entrepreneurship support to incubate and commercialise technology inside NYU’s broader ecosystem
Projections in the release include incubating nearly 50 companies and providing services to 50 newly formed startups. Those are forecasts, not contracted outcomes.
The city’s stake
To keep city priorities reflected in QFab’s direction, New York will receive three seats on the QFab Executive Advisory Board.
Separately, when intellectual property is created at QFab using tools the city funded, the city will receive 15 percent of NYU Central Administration’s proceeds from that IP — including equity, royalties, milestone payments and patent licences. That share is of NYU central administration revenue tied to city-funded tools, not of every dollar NYU ever earns from quantum research.
Mayor Mamdani said the agreement is meant so New Yorkers “have a say and a share” in technologies developed with public investment. NYU President Linda Mills and Executive Vice President for Global Science and Technology Juan de Pablo framed 770 Broadway as a catalyst for a region that already hosts a large concentration of quantum scientists and engineers, with CUNY students training alongside NYU students.
The $2.7 trillion figure
City materials say quantum technology is “projected to generate up to US$2.7 trillion in economic value by 2035.” That projection is quoted by the city and is not sourced in the release to a named study TSN can verify here. Treat it as an attributed projection, not a fact TSN has checked.
Why it matters
Quantum hardware still depends on specialised fabrication, cryogenics and cleanroom access that startups rarely own. A city-backed shared fab in Manhattan is an economic-development bet as much as a science one: board seats and a revenue share try to lock public return into the model.
TSN has separately covered ORCA Computing’s PT-3 photonic system at Digital Realty in London and Singapore’s quantum-safe milestones — different layers of the same broader quantum stack (hardware vs post-quantum security).
What is still unknown
The announcement does not detail which city-funded tools trigger the 15 percent share, how board seats vote, or a full equipment list. Opening in 2030 leaves a multi-year build. Job and company counts are expectations.
What to watch next
- Construction milestones and equipment procurement toward the 2030 opening
- Publication of the board-seat and IP-share agreements
- Whether CUNY certificate programmes enrol on the timeline promised
Sources
- NYCEDC, “Mayor Mamdani Announces New NYU Quantum Fabrication Facility, First-of-its-Kind Partnership to Give City a Stake in Emerging Industry”, 14 October 2026. https://edc.nyc/press-release/mayor-mamdani-announces-new-nyu-quantum-fabrication-facility
- NYC Mayor’s Office news / transcript materials, October 2026. https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/10/mayor-mamdani-announces-new-nyu-quantum-fabrication-facility–fi
