The US Department of Energy (DOE) has launched a partnership between Fermilab and Qblox to manufacture and distribute the Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit (QICK).

The effort will scale the open-source platform across U.S. universities, national labs, and industry. DOE sees the expansion as a way to strengthen domestic quantum hardware capabilities and deepen workforce training as the sector moves toward more modular systems.

QICK is an open-source hardware and software platform that provides control and readout for quantum processors and sensors. It synchronizes pulses, waveforms and measurements across multiple channels, forming the classical interface that quantum processors rely on. Fermilab began developing the platform in 2021, and it now supports a community of roughly 500 users across labs, academia, and industry.

Gustavo Cancelo, a senior electronic engineer and scientist at Fermilab, said the project's open-source nature is essential to its success.

"We would not have the community or the performance we have today if QICK had not been open source," he said. "It allows many people to contribute, test, improve and engage with the tool in ways that would not be possible otherwise."

Under the agreement, Fermilab will continue leading R&D and developing the next generations of QICK hardware, while Qblox will manufacture, distribute and support the platform at scale.

Niels Bultink, CEO of Qblox, explained the company sees QICK as complementary to its existing Cluster control product line.

"Supporting both QICK and Qblox Cluster products uniquely positions us as the trusted leader for industrial and workforce development activities among university researchers for quantum control systems," Bultink said.

Qblox will manage U.S. manufacturing through established partnerships with Real Digital and AMD, while working with Safran for international shipments. According to Bultink, users can expect improved manufacturing quality, faster setup and calibration, and more responsive support as QICK deployments expand.

For Fermilab, the partnership allows the lab to focus on advanced R&D rather than scaling its small engineering team into a commercial operation. Cancelo said that Qblox would take on documentation, user interface improvements, and the educational programs needed to support broad adoption.

"We are a small R&D team, but with Qblox, QICK can reach many more universities and industries that want to learn quantum and need a system like this," he said. "They will grow an educational force around the platform."

The latest generation, QICK 2.0, introduces faster timing, shorter pulse generation, and new capabilities, including low-latency communication between up to 16 synchronized hardware boxes, crosstalk compensation, and pulse predistortion. Cancelo said these features are essential as researchers push toward more sophisticated qubit control, lower error rates, and hybrid quantum-classical workflows.

Fermilab is planning a third generation of QICK based on upcoming Versal RFSoC FPGAs from AMD, a shift expected to support more advanced quantum error correction. The team is also pursuing zero-dead-time two-qubit randomized benchmarking and GPU integration for hybrid computing.

DOE officials have emphasized the importance of strengthening domestic quantum supply chains. According to Cancelo, high-level interest from leaders like DOE Under Secretary for Science Darío Gil could help secure future support. Fermilab is now preparing to align its roadmap with the lab's leadership team as QICK transitions into broader national deployment.