For those who have observed him over a long period, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s nearly half-hour speech at the SRM University Amaravati auditorium on 14 April (while inaugurating a quantum computing reference centre) may have offered a glimpse of vintage Chandrababu Naidu. Addressing a gathering comprising leading figures from the technology and academic spheres, his speech remained firmly focused on his broader economic agenda. The man who had emerged as India’s most progressive chief ministerial face (before others arrived on the scene) in the post-reform era was credited with giving a new identity to Hyderabad (then the capital of undivided Andhra Pradesh), placing it on the global IT map with the nomenclature ‘Cyberabad’. Nearly two and a half decades after that success, he is now promising to pursue a much larger agenda, having once again assumed the reins of governance (his party is also a crucial ally of the NDA government at the Centre).
Andhra Pradesh and Naidu’s economic agenda have once again drawn attention after Google recently committed a staggering $15 billion investment to set up a very large-scale data centre in Vizag. This is being seen as the largest foreign direct investment in India’s digital infrastructure. Alongside this, the Naidu government over the past year has been taking steps to promote city-based programmes for the development of new-age sectors (for example, a space city project in Tirupati, a drone city in Kurnool, and others). And on 14 April in Amaravati, the launch of two quantum computing test beds may signal Andhra Pradesh taking a decisive frontline position in this sphere. “What we have unveiled here today are fully instrumented quantum test beds. They have given India a platform to test and build. It is not only an important moment for Andhra but also for the country. India needed a sovereign open platform of its own, and we have developed that in Amaravati,” Naidu commented.
Significance of quantum foray
The unveiling of the quantum centre in Amaravati deserves to be viewed from a broader national perspective. Conversations with stakeholders in the technology arena suggest that India has not been sufficiently proactive in establishing itself as an emerging global quantum hub – the next major frontier in the ongoing technological transformation. “India is not yet a leader in quantum hardware, but it has a clear edge in software, algorithms, and scalable talent. That matters because the first wave of value in quantum will come from applications, not machines,” says Chaitra Vedullapalli, Co-founder and President, Women in Cloud (a US-headquartered global network of women tech founders). The US, China, Japan, Germany, Canada, and even South Korea are considered to be at the forefront of scaling up quantum computing capabilities, which will make AI a more potent technological force in the not-so-distant future. Elon Musk has recently described quantum computing as a pivotal and imminent leap for AI that would enable massively accelerated computation.
Of late, however, India has begun to make moves. The process formally began in 2023 with the launch of a dedicated National Quantum Mission (NQM), with a corpus of Rs6,003.65 crore to support stakeholders. As per a government release, the mission objectives include developing intermediate-scale quantum computers with 500-1,000 physical qubits over 8 years. “India’s preparedness is real, but it must be assessed honestly. The National Quantum Mission provides the right architecture. The Indian Institute of Science and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research anchor the research structure, and our talent pipeline is unmatched. The National Programme on Technology-Enhanced Learning’s quantum course reached 200,000 enrolments in 2026 alone. The gap is in hardware,” says Rajiv Kumar, CEO, Proactive Data Systems. “On the fundamental measure of quantum processing power – qubits – we currently have 25, developed indigenously. China operates beyond 500. The global industry roadmap points to fault-tolerant quantum systems by the end of this decade. That distance closes only with execution discipline, not intent. The mission is correctly structured. The variable is governance speed,” he further elaborates.
According to Shanghai-based CEO coach and business author Anu Rathninde (known for his book Tackling Complexity), when it comes to technological advancement vis-à-vis AI and quantum, the two countries driving the field are clearly the US and China. “But you can’t completely write off India,” he says. “It has the talent which has produced something like the world’s largest UPI platform. So, it can also be part of skill-driven quantum innovation.”
And now, here is a quick look at what has been set up in Amaravati. On 14 April, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister launched two quantum reference facilities (one of them online), aimed at building India’s “first sovereign hardware ecosystem” and accelerating indigenous manufacturing of advanced computing systems. They have been developed under the Amaravati Quantum Valley (AQV) initiative and are India’s “first indigenously built” open-access quantum computers, designed, assembled, and tested domestically with a supply chain spanning multiple institutions. With this initiative, the Amaravati Quantum Reference Facility has become India’s national quantum hardware testing ground, enabling validation, benchmarking, and certification of quantum components under real operating conditions.
It will function as a fully instrumented platform where researchers, start-ups, and industry can directly access, observe, and test components such as processors, cryogenic systems, amplifiers, and control electronics.
Quantum Valley Saga
One of the most notable aspects of the project, as key functionaries emphasise, has been the speed of its execution. With the intention of making Amaravati a hub for quantum computing and deep tech in the country, the Andhra Pradesh government, early last year, initiated a project called Quantum Valley to oversee the creation of a holistic quantum ecosystem in the evolving greenfield capital. This initiative took off following commitments from two leading companies, TCS and IBM, which together put in a seed capital of Rs1,000 crore. “The instructions from the CM were clear from day one. We have to create the complete ecosystem for quantum computing which can make Amravati a global hub in the time to come. We began with that vision and the state government has allocated 50 acres to create this hub,” says CV Sridhar, a senior technology leader with TCS who was appointed mission director to spearhead the Quantum Valley Project of the Andhra Pradesh government.
Sridhar came on board in February last year and, while he and his team were busy laying the basic building blocks of the project, on 9 September Chandrababu Naidu convened a meeting of senior officials and experts associated with the project and urged them to expedite the process and create the first prototype in the shortest possible time frame. This is believed to have given fresh impetus to the project, culminating in the unveiling on 14 April.
Venkata Subramaniam, another key figure in the recent quantum-specific developments in Amaravati, entered the picture to set the ball rolling for the development of the prototype. Having spent 27 years with IBM (he was IBM Quantum India Lead), he founded a start-up called Qbitforce, which coordinated and supervised the creation of the preliminary systems from scratch. Its first adopters have been another start-up, Qubitech, and SRM University, which have set up quantum reference labs in Vijayawada (located at Medha Hitech City) and Amaravati, respectively.
According to Venkat, the system has been designed to serve as a shared national resource, where researchers, academics, government laboratories and industry partners will gain hands-on access to cutting-edge quantum hardware infrastructure that was previously available only at a handful of facilities worldwide. The facility will provide capabilities across four key domains: quantum hardware development and validation, material characterisation, development of next-generation semiconductor devices, and cryogenics and dilution refrigeration.
The system was put together in such a short time frame thanks to collaborative support from some of the leading institutions. Technical support has been provided by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). According to Venkat, the system comprises 85 per cent indigenously developed components, making it a ‘Make in India’ achievement in its own right. It also features domestically produced dilution refrigerators, a critical component required to cool superconducting processors. “The way it has been produced with the collaboration of so many agencies, in the shortest time frame, has been no less than magic,” he says.
Expanding the base
In setting up a greenfield capital in Amaravati, Naidu is perhaps aiming for what could become his biggest achievement as an economic administrator. Greenfield smart cities are rare, even globally, but his strong push towards the development of an ultra-modern state capital is clearly visible in the construction currently underway across the vast stretch of land demarcated for different wings of the administration and other amenities in Amaravati. As per the master plan, the capital city area will eventually cover 217 sq km, comprising 27 townships and nine themed cities. It will also have nine anchor sectors, which are expected to transform it into a vibrant economic zone in its own right, with a GDP valuation of $35 billion and a population of 3.5 million by 2050. By then, total employment generated by the city is expected to be in the vicinity of 1.5 million. It clearly belongs to that special league of generational projects (often taking decades to reach completion), where about Rs85,000 crore will be invested in infrastructure development.
Among other things, the grand plan also includes positioning Amaravati as a global quantum hub, as one of the core elements of its identity. Following the creation of two test beds, key functionaries say that activity will now intensify. “The quantum valley we have planned will also be a leading global deep tech hub focusing on four domains: quantum, AI, cybersecurity, and semiconductor. The total zone will offer a staggering 9 million sq ft for companies and other agencies who would like to position themselves in the valley. The first two towers will become operational in the next few months,” says Sridhar.
At its peak, the zone is expected to create 88,000 jobs across both software and hardware segments. He further emphasises that over the next year, the project will develop a preliminary ecosystem comprising 76 start-ups in the technology space. Venkat, on his part, adds that after the installation of the prototypal systems, the order compilation process has begun. “10 more universities have shown interest – seven are from India and three from abroad and our talks with them are in an advanced stage. On the basis of our experience in creating prototype, we are tightening our supply chain stream to bring in place a more formidable ecosystem.”
Andhra Pradesh is the first state in the country to announce a dedicated quantum policy (others have mostly expressed intent through strategy papers or mission announcements). Its swift action in Amaravati is expected to set the ball rolling for further initiatives by other states. “Karnataka has already made progress, led by the Indian Institute of Science. Telangana is a strong contender, with Hyderabad’s pharma cluster serving as a natural application for quantum computing. Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra possess significant institutional strength but require political support similar to that provided by Chief Minister Naidu in Andhra,” Rajiv Kumar observes. “Amaravati Quantum Valley is where India’s quantum ambitions are becoming tangible, and the rest of the country must now match this seriousness.”
Chaitra Vedullapalli expresses a similar view. “What Andhra has done will trigger state-level competition, especially from Karnataka, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, which already have strong tech ecosystems. Expect rapid movement between 2026 and 2028.”
So, it appears that the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister has succeeded in setting a national agenda for a quantum leap in harnessing this powerful technology of the future.