The White House has removed data centers, batteries, and AR from the US Critical and Emerging Technologies list while adding post-quantum cryptography, integrated photonics, and high entropy alloys.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has released its updated National Security Science & Technology Strategy, marking the first revision of the federal Critical and Emerging Technologies (CET) list since February 2024. Appendix A of the 24-page document reduces the list from 18 categories to 14. Several sectors have been removed, including advanced cloud services, high-performance data storage and data centers, batteries, grid integration, gas turbine engines, and augmented and virtual reality. In their place, the updated list introduces post-quantum cryptography, integrated photonics, high-entropy alloys, and “hardened operating systems for consumer use.”
Federal agencies rely on the CET list to draft export control regulations, screen foreign investments through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), evaluate federally funded research proposals, and establish research and development budget priorities. Consequently, any additions or deletions carry substantial strategic weight.
Notable structural shifts include the complete removal of advanced gas turbine engine technologies, which previously encompassed aerospace and industrial engine production alongside full-authority digital engine control. Human-machine interfaces have also been eliminated, taking augmented reality, virtual reality, and human-machine teaming with them. Meanwhile, neurotechnologies have been relocated to the biotechnology category, and brain-computer interfaces now appear under future computing. Clean energy generation and storage were replaced by a dedicated nuclear category covering advanced fission and fusion, space nuclear power and propulsion, and high-temperature radiation-resistant materials.
The former advanced computing category has been renamed future computing technologies. It shed advanced cloud services, high-performance data storage and data centers, advanced modeling and simulation, and data processing techniques. These have been replaced by edge computing for tactical environments, photonic and neuromorphic modalities, and advanced spatial computing. The removal of data centers from the federal critical technology list comes amid the largest data center construction boom in industry history. This aligns with the strategy’s funding guidance, which directs agencies to invest “where they can best complement rather than compete with private sector investment.” With hyperscalers rapidly expanding capacity, Washington no longer treats data centers as a primary research priority.
Significant revisions also occurred within the artificial intelligence category. Entries for “Technologies for improving AI safety, trust, security, and responsible use” and “AI assurance and assessment techniques” were deleted and replaced with “interpretability and control” and “adversarial robustness and AI security.” Furthermore, the AI and autonomy category absorbed the previous robotics and uncrewed systems classification. It now explicitly includes multi-agent systems, swarm intelligence, autonomous agent identification and authentication, continual learning, distributed and privacy-preserving machine learning, and world systems as a designated class of foundation model.
Post-quantum cryptography makes its debut alongside operational technology and industrial control system security, as well as AI-enabled autonomous cyber capabilities. Integrated photonics enters as a new semiconductor subfield. While the 2024 list referenced only “novel materials for advanced microelectronics,” the 2026 iteration specifically cites 2D materials as an example. Advanced manufacturing has expanded to include high-entropy alloys, advanced composites and lightweight metals, digital threads and digital twins, and the substitution of rare-earth and critical-mineral alloys with earth-abundant alternatives.
Within the semiconductor category, integrated photonics and 2D materials stand as the sole additions. Non-Von Neumann architectures have been transferred to future computing, while design automation, process technology and equipment, beyond-CMOS, heterogeneous integration and advanced packaging, and MEMS and NEMS remain unchanged from 2024. Appendix B maps each technology area against seven national security requirements. The semiconductor sector addresses six of these, offering broader coverage than almost any other category on the list. Its only gap is the “lead in transformative emerging technology” column, which is exclusively satisfied by AI and autonomy, biotechnology, and quantum. The funding guidelines reinforce this positioning, directing agencies to defer later-stage development in advanced manufacturing, advanced communications, future computing, and PNT to the private sector. Collectively, these categories encompass much of the chip supply chain, reflecting a broader strategy that treats semiconductors as critical infrastructure to secure rather than a technological frontier to aggressively pioneer.