New Delhi, June 2 -- On the afternoon of Valentine's Day in 2025, L. Venkata Subramaniam was walking outside his home on the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, campus. His phone rang. On the line was Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

Subramaniam, then head of IBM Quantum India, expected a broad conversation about emerging technology. Instead, Naidu had a pointed question: "How do we bring an IBM Quantum system to Amaravati?"

Naidu had already spoken to Veezhinathan Kamakoti, the director of IIT Madras. He wanted to know what it would take to attract researchers, companies and investment around this emerging technology that could one day address many challenges the world is grappling with, including cancer res...