NYC invests $30M in NYU quantum lab in exchange for stake in industry

Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday announced the city will invest nearly $30 million in a new quantum technology lab at New York University in exchange for a stake in new technologies developed with city-funded tools. Expected to open in 2030, Quantum Fabrication Facility (QFab) will take up 23,000 square feet at 770 Broadway, where NYU entered a lease for 1 million square feet last year.

As the first public-private partnership of this scale in the city, the deal allows the city to profit when intellectual property is created at Qfab using tools the city funded. The mayor wants this type of deal to set up a new national model for “economic development for the public good,” according to the city.

NYU will invest an additional $255 million in the new lab, which includes construction and 10 years of operations. According to the city, the facility will support more than 100 companies working to develop new technology utilizing quantum mechanics. The lab will help create 50 companies and support 50 new startups.

QFab will help “turn prototypes into products and provide support from NYU’s academic and entrepreneurial programs,” according to a press release.

Under the deal, when intellectual property is created at the lab using the tools the city funded, the city will receive 15 percent of the NYU Central Administration’s proceeds, “including equity, royalties, milestone payments, and licenses of the patent.” The mayor did not estimate revenue projections for the city but said the technology could generate up to $2.7 trillion in economic value by 2035.

The partnership between the city and the university includes three seats on the QFab Executive Advisory Board to ensure “all New Yorkers see the profits and progress from quantum technology, not just the wealthy few,” the mayor said in a statement.

“Right now, at subatomic levels that we can only glimpse, new technologies are being developed that will transform how we fight disease, store energy, and exchange information. We want those technologies, investments and jobs to be created here in New York City — and we want New Yorkers to have a say and a share in their success. With this new quantum lab, we are bringing that vision to life,” Mamdani said.

The partnership is similar to what President Donald Trump has done on the federal level. Since January 2025, the U.S. government has invested $28.4 billion across 42 deals with private companies, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

As the Center for Strategic & International Studies noted, the Trump administration has shifted industrial policy in the country by acquiring equity in companies related to national security, “spanning minerals, nuclear energy, and semiconductors.” In the past, the U.S. intervened directly in the economy during times of crisis, like Lincoln’s support of the rail system during the Civil War and state procurement programs to make automotive and shipbuilding industries focus on wartime production, according to the policy research nonprofit.

NYU plans to provide students from the City University of New York (CUNY) and New York City Public Schools with access to the labs, training, certificate programs, and summer workshops.

“This is our chance to make sure that as the quantum industry takes shape, it takes shape here, so the NYU and CUNY students training in our labs today can forge careers right here in New York, tomorrow,” Dr. Juan de Pablo, NYU’s executive vice president for Global Science and Technology and the Executive Dean of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, said.

“The quantum future is coming whether New York builds it or not. Today we make sure it’s built here in New York City, by New Yorkers from all five boroughs.”