Doha: Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has invested in PsiQuantum, a quantum computing company that is building the world’s first commercially useful, fault-tolerant quantum computers.
In a statement yesterday, QIA said that this $1bn funding will equip the company to break ground on utility-scale quantum computing sites in Brisbane, Australia and Chicago, United States, deploy large-scale prototype systems to validate systems architecture and integration, and further advance the performance of its quantum photonic chips.
Led by investors BlackRock, Temasek, and Baillie Gifford, this fundraising values the company at $7bn and welcomes new investors, including QIA and entities administered by Macquarie Capital, Ribbit Capital, NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), Adage Capital Management, Type One Ventures, Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley), 1789 Capital, and S Ventures (SentinelOne). The round also included participation from existing investors including Blackbird, Third Point Ventures, and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.
PsiQuantum was founded on a single premise: commercial applications of quantum computing need error correction - and therefore require a technical strategy that can rapidly scale to millions of qubits. Many teams around the world have embraced this view and are now attempting to build systems at this scale, which then introduces major engineering challenges in manufacturing, cooling, networking, and control. PsiQuantum chose a photonic approach due to intrinsic advantages in overcoming each of these challenges.
“Only building the real thing - million-qubit-scale, fault-tolerant machines - will unlock the promise of quantum computing,” said Prof. Jeremy O’Brien, PsiQuantum co-founder and CEO. “We defined what it takes from day one: it is a grand engineering challenge, not scientific experiments. We tackled the hardest problems first - at the architectural and chip level - and now have best-in-class silicon photonic quantum chips manufactured at a leading US commercial semiconductor line. Our architecture is built to scale, our systems are integrating quickly, and with this funding, we’re ready to take the next decisive steps to deliver quantum computing’s full potential.”
“Nearly nine years after we started, we have taken the technology to a level of maturity where we are ready to get on and build utility-scale systems,” said Dr. Pete Shadbolt, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer. “We have the chips, we have the switches, we have a scalable cooling technology, we can do networking, we have found the sites, and we have strong support from the public and private sector alike.”
In addition to investment support from NVentures, PsiQuantum is collaborating with NVIDIA across a broad range of development areas, including quantum algorithms and software, GPU-QPU integration and PsiQuantum’s silicon photonics platform.
