Unlike some quantum computing startups that use exotic materials, PsiQuantum aims to modify the semiconductor industry's traditional manufacturing methods. The company is using existing photonics technology – the same type of chip manufacturing used to create fiber-optic connections for internet communications – at a GlobalFoundries factory in New York, saying it plans to produce millions of quantum chips.
According to one of the sources, scaling up these plans to produce large numbers of quantum computing processors is an expensive and complex undertaking that requires fundraising.
Startups and big tech companies are pursuing quantum computing, which can solve complex problems that would take traditional computers thousands or millions of years to solve, such as predicting how atoms and molecules will interact. Scientists hope to use quantum machines to develop new battery materials and new drugs.
PsiQuantum is working with the Australian and US governments to build two quantum computers in the coming years—one in Brisbane, Australia, and the other in Chicago.
Quantum computers have been around for decades, but they have made too many mistakes to be any more useful than regular computers. In recent years, companies have made strides in building more advanced quantum chips and fixing those mistakes, with PsiQuantum saying it believes it will have a useful machine by 2029 or sooner, and Google saying earlier this year that it will have useful quantum applications within five years.
Source: Reuters
