KAIST said on the 3rd that it held a ceremony to open the National Quantum Fab Research Institute and a groundbreaking ceremony for the Quantum Fab research building at its Daejeon main campus, and that it has begun in earnest to build core national infrastructure to strengthen Korea's quantum technology competitiveness.
After being selected last year as the lead institution for the Quantum Fab in a public call by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation, KAIST completed the installation and design of the institute with Daejeon City agreeing to support 20 billion won for building construction. The new Quantum Fab research building will have a total floor area of 2,498 square meters and is targeted for completion in 2027.
The new building will house the nation's largest open cleanroom fab dedicated to quantum devices, with more than 45 billion won to be invested by 2031, including national, local government, and KAIST budgets. More than 37 pieces of advanced equipment will be installed in stages in the FAB cleanrooms on the first and third floors, and the facility will also be equipped with stability systems such as class 100–1000 cleanliness standards, temperature and humidity control, and emergency power.
KAIST's Quantum Fab, based on a fully open operation that allows researchers to carry out processes directly, supports process technologies for various quantum platforms such as photonics, point defects, and neutral atoms, and will also strengthen user programs such as education and workshops. Phase 1 service began in July this year, and from 2028, full-fledged Phase 2 operations will begin based on the new equipment.
Daejeon Mayor Lee Jang-woo said, "KAIST's open Quantum Fab is a core platform that will lead the industrialization of quantum in Korea," adding, "In particular, as Korea and the United States designated Quantum Computing as a strategic field in their $350 billion technology cooperation package, Daejeon's role is becoming even more important."
Cho Yong-hoon, head of the Quantum Fab Research Institute, said, "Through a user-centered process support system, we will serve as the backbone of the national quantum research ecosystem," adding, "Based on our research capabilities and support system, we will expand industry-academia-research cooperation and take a leap forward as a pilot Quantum Fab in the future."
President Lee Kwang-hyung said, "Quantum science and technology is a key strategic domain that will determine future technological supremacy," adding, "With this opening and groundbreaking ceremony as a starting point, we will join forces across industry, academia, research, and government to strengthen the competitiveness of the national quantum ecosystem."