The first publicly traded quantum computing company now has a permanent address in Tennessee.

EPB and IonQ have jointly launched a $22 million Quantum Innovation Center in Chattanooga, with IonQ simultaneously opening a permanent local office. The center is the first physical presence in Tennessee for a publicly traded pure-play quantum computing company.

The setup is a direct product of what Chattanooga already has. EPB — the city’s municipal utility and one of the fastest fiber networks in the country — provides the infrastructure backbone. IonQ brings trapped-ion quantum hardware.

Together the center is targeting advanced manufacturing optimization, logistics, and academic research across the Tennessee Valley.

The positioning is deliberate. EPB and IonQ are not framing this as a regional pilot.

They are placing Chattanooga alongside IBM’s Chicago quantum corridor and Google’s California campuses as a legitimate quantum computing hub — a claim that would have been difficult to make anywhere without the fiber density EPB already has in the ground.

For the corridor, this is the kind of anchor investment that tends to compound. A quantum center draws researchers, which draws university partnerships, which draws adjacent tech investment.

Chattanooga has been building toward this kind of recognition for years. The IonQ office makes it permanent.