Australia Invests $617M for ‘Useful’ Quantum Computer

Australian authorities have awarded PsiQuantum $617 million to build what could be the world’s first fault-resistant, utility-scale quantum computer.

The Australian Commonwealth and Queensland Governments plans to invest the sum through a financial package comprising equity, grants and loans. It brings the company’s total funding to $1.3 billion, potentially making PsiQuantum the highest-funded independent quantum computing company.

PsiQuantum plans to build the quantum computer at a “strategically located site” near Brisbane Airport in Brisbane, Australia, and to have the site operational by the end of 2027.

An effective fault-tolerant architecture would enable quantum computers to compensate for the errors that qubits are prone to and be able to scale sufficiently to be commercially useful. Utility-scale quantum computers are likely to be able to solve mathematical and physical problems for industries including renewable energy, materials, health care and transportation.

“A utility-scale quantum computer represents an opportunity to construct a new, practical foundation of computational infrastructure and in so doing ignite the next industrial revolution,” said PsiQuantum CEO Jeremy O’Brien.

“This platform will help solve today’s impossible problems and will serve as a tool to design the solutions we so desperately need to safeguard our future. We’re thrilled to partner with the Australian and Queensland governments as our team at PsiQuantum takes a massive step forward in our mission to help deliver on the promise of quantum computing.”

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PsiQuantum develops fusion-based quantum computers with an architecture that uses photonics to encode qubits into particles of light. The company is targeting 1 million physical qubits for its first utility-scale system, meaning enough can be dedicated towards error correction so that logical qubits can perform algorithms accurately.  

“Today’s endorsement from the Australian government establishes another critical milestone in PsiQuantum’s mission to deliver the world’s first useful quantum computers,” said PsiQuantum Chief Business Officer Stratton Sclavos.

“With a utility-scale quantum computer in sight, our applications teams have been working with leading companies in pharmaceuticals, semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace, chemicals, and financial services to ensure that fault-tolerant quantum applications are ready to deploy when the system is operational.”