Australia bets on US startup that aims to build the first massive quantum computer
Silicon Valley startup PsiQuantum said Monday it secured $620 million from the Australian and Queensland governments to build the world’s first massive quantum computer there by the end of 2027.
PsiQuantum says the investment makes it the most heavily-funded quantum computing startup in the world, with $1.3 billion raised since it was founded in 2016. Other investors include Founders Fund, Playground Global and Redpoint Ventures.
Australia has been an early leader in quantum computing, investing in academic resources and establishing a national quantum strategy, with the goal of building commercially viable quantum computers in the country.
Pete Shadbolt, a PsiQuantum co-founder (two are from Australia) and its chief scientific officer, told Semafor that Australia picked his company because it was the most likely to reach a big enough scale to produce impactful results.
He noted the country has “spent a lot of money on research and they got a lot of amazing papers and a lot of amazing demonstrations. But it’s always been clear that in order to realize those benefits, you have to build a big, old, expensive machine.”
