PsiQuantum

PsiQuantum is a developer of a general-purpose silicon photon quantum computer. The company was founded in 2016 by Jeremy O'Brien, previously a professor of physics and electrical engineering at Stanford University and director of the Center for Quantum Photonics at the University of Bristol. Based on technology developed at the University of Bristol, PsiQuantum uses a silicon photon approach to the production of a quantum computer at the CMOS silicon factory. PsiQuantum aims to offer numerous advantages over other quantum computing technologies, such as low noise, low temperature operation and the absence of atomic scale production.

History

2021: Raising $450 million

At the end of July 2021, it became known that PsiQuantum, a quantum computing company, received an investment of $450 million from funds managed by the investment giant BlackRock.

According to Jeremy O'Brien, co-founder and chief executive officer of the PsiQuantum, the funds will be used to expand the team, which by the end of July 2021 has about 150 people and to create a machine with 1 million quantum bits.

Until 2030, we will see the world-changing application of this technology. Commercial-class quantum computers do not yet exist, but in the end they will be able to solve problems many millions of times faster than ordinary computers and potentially solve problems that an ordinary supercomputer can never solve, Jeremy O'Brien told the publication.

PsiQuantum raised $450 million

PsiQuantum plans to build his machine using photons or particles of light as qubits. One of the advantages of this method is that it can help the machine perform reliable calculations without errors, said Peter Shadbolt, co-founder and chief strategist of the company. The other two co-founders of the company are Mark Thompson, chief technologist and Terry Rudolph, chief architect. All founders have doctorates and work experience in the field of research or teaching physics and electrical engineering.

One challenge that the PsiQuantum will have to overcome is that it will need to incorporate new, higher-performance components into the existing manufacturing process. One example of such a component is a more efficient waveguide that is used to direct photons within the chip.

The company has a unique advantage over its counterparts because it collaborates with a foundry to produce quantum processors using the latest semiconductor equipment, and some other companies have to build their own chip manufacturing plants.

PsiQuantum do not yet have an early-stage quantum computing prototype that customers can test. However, the startup claims that it has customers in various industries, from healthcare to electronics and transport, who pay companies to determine use cases and algorithms for quantum computing.

Tony Kim, managing director of BlackRock, said in a statement that the technology approach PsiQuantum is the most promising of all the company has seen to date.

Other D-series investors include asset manager Baillie Gifford and Microsoft's M12 venture fund. Samir Kumar, managing director of M12, said PsiQuantum is the venture capital company's first investment in quantum computing.

2019: Raising $230 million

In 2019, PsiQuantum raised funding in the amount of $230 million.^[1]

Notes