The idea for “Quantum Access” originated during an NDIA meeting in DC in January 2020. The original discussion involved Erik and people from Lincoln Labs, Synopsys, SkyWater, Auburn University, and some others (I am withholding individual names out of general privacy concerns).
The discussion led to some WebEx meetings (during COVID-19) involved up to several dozen people. See https://fab.quantum.ieee.org for more information.
It was informally proposed as “MOSIS for transmons” in the beginning, but changed to “Quantum Access” because (ahem) we were concerned that the real MOSIS people might object.
At some point the US Government issued a RFI for a “quantum collaboratory” and it became clear that money might change hands. This led to an approach to QED-C and a lead or co-lead for an effort.
One thing led to another and on July 9, 2020 the QED-C approved a workshop.
What does this have to do with IEEE? Well, Quantum Access started out as an IEEE activity and proposed to QED-C as a joint project. Unfortunately, the paperwork is not in place for an association between IEEE and QED-C. When that paperwork goes through, we’ll see what we can do about Quantum Access.