Insider Brief
- Ability Engineering Technology (AET) has joined the Chicago Quantum Exchange as a corporate partner, strengthening the region’s quantum engineering and manufacturing supply chain.
- The Illinois-based company designs and manufactures cryogenic and vacuum systems essential for quantum hardware development and scaling.
- Through the partnership, AET will support quantum infrastructure development, manufacturing scale-up, and workforce training across the CQE ecosystem.
PRESS RELEASE — Ability Engineering Technology (AET), an engineering partner and supplier of specialized equipment for the quantum technology sector, has joined the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) as a corporate partner. The South Holland, Illinois–based company engineers, designs, and manufactures high-precision cryogenic and vacuum equipment that is crucial in the development of quantum information technologies. The AET team operates both on-site and in their own specialized facility, collaborating to adapt and advance applications of the specialized technology.
AET, founded in 1947, specializes in the design and fabrication of custom cryostats, vacuum chambers, and pressure vessels for applications in a variety of scientific and industrial fields. These specialized systems are essential for the hardware that makes quantum information technology work, by providing the ultra-cool, stable environments that qubits need to operate effectively.
“Quantum systems sometimes require extreme environments that companies like Ability Engineering Technology provide,” said David Awschalom, the University of Chicago’s Liew Family professor of molecular engineering and physics, senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, and the director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange. “By partnering with AET, we strengthen both our regional quantum supply chain and the collaborations that drive our integrated discovery-to-deployment ecosystem. We are excited to welcome them to the CQE.”
As a CQE partner, AET will collaborate with researchers and industry partners developing next-generation quantum infrastructure and contribute its specialized manufacturing capabilities to the region’s growing quantum ecosystem. It will also work with CQE members and partners to solve the engineering bottlenecks associated with scaling quantum technology manufacturing and contribute to workforce development efforts. AET is also part of the US Economic Development Administration–designated Bloch Quantum Tech Hub, which is among 11 of 19 hubs competing in the final stage of the EDA’s awards competition. If funded, The Bloch will scale quantum-based innovations by integrating quantum developers, manufacturers, and other players into a development cycle that incorporates design, production, assembly, testing, and dedicated facilities.
“As we explored the emerging global quantum ecosystem, it became clear that the Chicago Quantum Exchange is a mission-critical hub connecting organizations that need local cryogenic expertise with our extensive experience and creative problem-solving engineers,” said AET President Eugene Botsoe. “As a global company, we were drawn to the CQE and Illinois’s broader vision for leadership in quantum technologies. Joining this community allows us to contribute beyond the infrastructure we design and manufacture and contribute more broadly to our community by providing workforce development, training, and on-site technical expertise. We look forward to growing alongside CQE, IQMP and the broader Midwest quantum economy.”
The CQE is based at the University of Chicago and anchored by the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Northwestern University, and Purdue University. The CQE includes nearly 70 corporate, international, nonprofit, and regional partners.
