PsiQuantum
More info
- Creator
- Jeremy O'Brien, Terry Rudolph, Mark Thompson, Pete Shadbolt
- Released
- 2016
- Type
- Quantum computer maker
- Website
- psiquantum.com
The quantum company that skipped the small demo machines and aimed straight for a million qubits.
PsiQuantum was founded in 2016 by a group of physicists with roots at Bristol and Imperial College, and soon moved to Palo Alto. It builds photonic quantum computers, in which the qubits are single particles of light. The advantage is that the chips can be made in ordinary semiconductor fabs — PsiQuantum's come from GlobalFoundries — rather than in bespoke labs.
The strategy is unusual: instead of showing off ever-larger prototypes, the company has argued that only a fault-tolerant, million-qubit machine is worth building. In 2024 it secured major government backing for facilities in Brisbane and Chicago. Nobody yet knows whether the bet pays off, but few have put so much on a single card.