PSiQuantum to build first utility-scale quantum computer in Australia

While many companies – Microsoft, Google, and IBM among them – are in the race to build practical systems, there are currently two main challenges to this goal: the number of quantum bits, or qubits, that a single computer has, and how reliable those qubits are. A comparable analogy is the aim of traditional computer manufacturers to put more gates on a single chip and having them work reliably.

Commercially viable quantum computing depends on the reliability of logical qubits, with a requirement for there to be at least 1,000 of them for a system to be considered in the practical range.

Microsoft and quantum-computing company Quantinuum announced earlier this month that they have reached a new high in quantum error correction, pushing the quantum industry to a new phase of development called the resilient stage. The next phase would be scientifically useful quantum, which requires 100 reliable logical qubits, with practical coming after that.

Microsoft, among others, is an investor in PsiQuantum, which could bolster the company’s efforts to real its goal. Meanwhile, IBM already has demonstrated a 433-qubit quantum processor, and aims to raise the number to 1,000 or more qubits – and thus to the practical stage – by 2025. 

With technologies like generative artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly evolving and demanding more computing power than current chips can handle, quantum computing is seen as key way forward to solve the limitations of silicon that companies are currently pushing to meet modern processing needs.

With its utility-scale system on the horizon, PsiQuantum already has lined up partners in pharmaceuticals, semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace, chemicals, and financial services to deliver applications for its Brisbane-based quantum-computing center once it’s operational, the company said.