PsiQuantum, Corp. (formerly PsiQ) is an American

quantum computing A quantum computer is a computer that exploits quantum mechanical phenomena. On small scales, physical matter exhibits properties of wave-particle duality, both particles and waves, and quantum computing takes advantage of this behavior using s ...

company based in

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It is developing a general-purpose silicon photonic quantum computer.

History

PsiQuantum was co-founded in 2016 by

Jeremy O'Brien Jeremy O'Brien (born 1975, Australia) is a physicist who researches in quantum optics, optical quantum metrology and quantum information science. He co-founded and is CEO of the quantum computing firm PsiQuantum. Formerly, he was Professorial ...

Terry Rudolph Terry Rudolph (born 1973) is a professor of quantum physics at Imperial College London. He co-founded quantum computing firm PsiQuantum. Research Terry Rudolph's research focuses on quantum information and the foundations of quantum mechanics ...

, Peter Shadbolt, and Mark Thompson. They are or were professors and researchers at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

and

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. As of July 2021, PsiQuantum was reported to have raised $665 million from investors at a valuation of $3.15 billion. Its investors include

BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...

Baillie Gifford Baillie Gifford & Co is a British investment management firm which is wholly owned by partners, all of whom work within the firm. It was founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1908 and still has its headquarters in the city. It has corporate offices ...

, and

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

's venture fund M12. In 2022, PsiQuantum and

GlobalFoundries GlobalFoundries Inc. is a multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company located in the Cayman Islands and headquartered in Malta, New York. Created by the divestiture of the manufacturing arm of AMD in March 2009, the ...

received U.S. federal funding for quantum computer research and development. PsiQuantum also entered into a collaboration with the

Air Force Research Laboratory The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research and development detachment of the United States Air Force Air Force Materiel Command, Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of direct- ...

. In 2023,

DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

selected PsiQuantum as one of the companies to receive funding under its Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC) program. The UK Government also provided funding for PsiQuantum to open a test facility for cryogenic testing in the UK. In 2024, the Australian Commonwealth and Queensland governments announced a million investment into the company via share equity (US$250 million) and loans. to build the world's first utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in Brisbane, Queensland. PsiQuantum stated that it had an aggressive plan to have the system operational by the end of 2027. In July 2024, PsiQuantum announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with five Queensland universities (The University of Queensland, Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology, University of Southern Queensland and the University of the Sunshine Coast) to develop educational programs in quantum fields and collaborate on research projects. Later in July 2024, PsiQuantum announced it would be partnering with the State of Illinois, Cook County, and the City of Chicago to anchor Governor JB Pritzker's new Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. In March 2025, PsiQuantum raised an additional $750 million, at a valuation of $6 billion.

References

{{authority control 2016 establishments in California Computer companies established in 2016 Computer hardware companies Quantum information science Quantum computing Computer companies of the United States Privately held companies based in California