The White House dropped data centers and data storage platforms from its list of critical national security technologies and elevated photonics as a standalone priority.

The 24-page National Security Science and Technology Strategy added integrated photonics as a semiconductor and microelectronics technology of concern, while photonic and neuromorphic computing modalities were listed as future technologies of note.

Explicit naming of photonics on the government's technology roadmap comes as the technology – which employs light over traditional electrons to transmit data at vastly higher speeds – steadily matures.

Its inclusion on the list and general references to data centers being omitted is a U.S. strategy shift from defining general-purpose infrastructure to architectures with more distinctly tactical relevance. For example, photonics could be used for jam-resistant, high-bandwidth data transfers across theaters of war, for surveillance optical sensors, or as laser designators for guided munitions.

The President Donald Trump administration is believed to have been monitoring optical photonics after a report in early August suggested officials were considering barring imports of Chinese optical transceivers. China is the world leader in optics exports with many of the market’s top suppliers providing pluggables to hyperscalers for their AI infrastructure buildouts.

Quantum was also elevated as part of the latest strategy adjustment, with the report linking the "potentially transformative emerging technology” alongside AI and biotechnology, suggesting it could have “profound implications for sensing, communications, computing, and information security.” The White House earlier this year issued various executive orders to advance quantum development and security in the United States, with decrees centered around post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and quantum networks and various bodies instructed to develop five-year plans covering quantum sensing, timing, networking, and distributed quantum computing.

In the document's own alignment table, quantum is the only technology area flagged with parenthetical markers across nearly every national security mission category, denoting that its “specific implications have yet to emerge but are on the horizon.” Both Google and Cloudflare recently came out with the industry's earliest forecasts that quantum computing will emerge around 2029.

The administration is also backing that designation with dedicated counterintelligence resources, pointing to the FBI-led Quantum Information Science and Technology Counterintelligence Protection Team as a model for fast-tracking security protections around quantum research, and flagging quantum information systems among the sectors facing tightened outbound investment restrictions.