A new $22.5 million contract aims to further develop photonic quantum computing in the U.S.
Quantum computing company PsiQuantum announced earlier this week that it has entered into a $22.5 million contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to collaborate on quantum photonic chips.
PsiQuantum uses particles of light—photons—as the basis for its quantum computers, and it partners with GlobalFoundries to manufacture silicon chips to detect said photons.
“Photonic quantum computing has long been an underappreciated approach to delivering a quantum computer,” said PsiQuantum co-founder and CEO Jeremy O’Brien in a company press release.
The new contract will see PsiQuantum and AFRL collaborate on designing photonic chips to be manufactured at GlobalFoundry’s Malta, New York semiconductor fab. According to PsiQuantum, the partnership was enabled by $25 million in federal funding announced in April by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer.
“Now more than ever federal funding is needed to ensure that the U.S. stays ahead of our international competitors–including China–in the race to develop the next generation of high tech and this will supercharge our researchers to continue to make groundbreaking discoveries in quantum computing,” Senator Schumer said in an April press release announcing the initial $25 million funding.
“The partnership with PsiQuantum supports both the United States Department of Defense’s and AFRL’s missions of pursuing long-term, broad-based research programs that ultimately lead to world-changing applications across multiple industries,” said Michael Hayduk, Deputy Director at AFRL, in the release.
Healthcare, agriculture, climate change, energy, finance, transportation, and communications are among the many areas that quantum computing could revolutionize, according to PsiQuantum.
