PsiQuantum recently raised $1 billion in its latest funding round, bringing the company’s total valuation to $7 billion and accelerating its goal of launching a commercial quantum computer by 2027. This Series E round of financing was led by old shareholders BlackRock, Temasek and Baillie Gifford, and the corporate venture capital arm of NVIDIA also became a new investor.
Currently, quantum computing start-ups are experiencing high valuations and fierce competition, with many companies promising to bring disruptive technologies and attracting large amounts of capital.
The company said the new funding will be used in part to accelerate development of quantum chipsets, expand test systems and advance materials manufacturing. A quantum computer in Brisbane, Australia, is scheduled to be ready by the end of 2027, and another system in Chicago could be launched in 2028. PsiQuantum's hardware is manufactured at GlobalFoundries' facility in upstate New York.
Unlike many rivals, which scale up by gradually increasing the number of qubits, PsiQuantum plans to directly build a fault-tolerant quantum system with 1 million qubits. Fault tolerance is achieved by quantum error correction technology, which is critical to reliability because quantum computing is inherently susceptible to interference and has a high error rate. CEO Jeremy O'Brien called the intense investor attention "planting a flag" that the race for practical quantum computing is officially on.
Quantum computers are expected to achieve capabilities beyond those of traditional computers in areas such as medical research and development, financial modeling, secure communications and Internet services. PsiQuantum’s strategic partnership with NVIDIA reflects the industry trend of integrating quantum processors with classic high-performance AI hardware.
PsiQuantum and NVIDIA are working together to enable quantum computers to seamlessly interface with NVIDIA AI chips. At the same time, the two parties are also developing relevant software and tools so that enterprise users can quickly transform and apply PsiQuantum's quantum computers when they are launched.
The momentum of the industry is becoming increasingly strong. Earlier this month, Quantinuum was valued at US$10 billion, and European quantum computing company IQM raised US$320 million, bringing its latest valuation to US$1 billion. Infleqtion also announced that it will go public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) with an expected valuation of $1.8 billion.
Baillie Gifford investment manager Luke Ward told the Wall Street Journal that PsiQuantum’s advantages in manufacturing capabilities and supply chain are key factors in the company’s continued support. He emphasized that promoting software development and ensuring that enterprise customers are ready for the implementation of quantum technology will be the next big challenge.
Ward also admitted that the project progress may be delayed, but he is still confident that the company can achieve its ambitious goals. "I believe these types of projects will always encounter delays, but their ability to deliver is getting better and better," he said.