PsiQuantum wins $10.8 million contract with Air Force Research Laboratory
The photonic quantum computing company will integrate components made from its barium titanate optical switching material into AFRL-designed circuits and deliver quantum chips to be validated and explored for Air Force applications
PsiQuantum has announced a $10.8 million contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in Rome, New York, continuing a partnership that began in 2022. This phase will give AFRL a design space for comparative quantum circuits on PsiQuantum’s circuit tapeout, part of its ongoing Omega quantum chipset manufacturing with GlobalFoundries.
As AFRL’s hardware design partner, PsiQuantum will supply its barium titanate (BTO) electro-optic phase shifters and integrate BTO into AFRL-designed optical circuits. PsiQuantum says its 300 mm BTO material is believed to be the world’s highest-performing electro-switch material. The company will also provide essential quantum circuit components. Once designed, constructed, and screened for performance, the company will deliver these completed chips to AFRL, which will then validate their capabilities to address other Air Force use cases.
“The team at AFRL has long understood the value of cutting-edge silicon photonics, and we are grateful to continue our work with the lab to deliver our state-of-the-art quantum chip capabilities to the US Air Force,” said Jeremy O’Brien, co-founder and CEO of PsiQuantum. “This partnership will enable PsiQuantum to share our technology, which is manufactured in a world-class, high-volume semiconductor fab, with AFRL to validate and explore future applications that would benefit the US Air Force. As the global race for utility-scale quantum computing continues, this kind of collaboration could not be more important, and we’re thrilled to be able to partner with technical leaders across the US government who share our vision.”
Michael Hayduk, deputy director at AFRL Information Directorate, said: “Ongoing advancements from our industry partners in fault-tolerant quantum computing, and the expertise in silicon photonics, are proving to be a significant asset to our mission. We are not only observing promising developments in quantum information science but are also playing a proactive role in enhancing the national security landscape through these emerging capabilities.”
“The Air Force Research Lab in Rome and the powerhouse innovation and manufacturing ecosystem in the Mohawk Valley and across Upstate NY are critical to our national security and ensuring America leads the globe in the quantum computing and emerging technologies race,” said Chuck Schumer, a senator who has been supporting the quantum computing community in Rome, NY, and across the state. “This $10.8 million contract is a win-win-win for PsiQuantum, GlobalFoundries, and good-paying jobs right here at the Rome Lab and across Upstate NY. I’m proud that my decades-long support for Rome Lab will boost America’s competitive edge in quantum even further with this contract, adding to Rome Lab’s tech leadership. This new contract will help make the Rome Lab and Upstate NY America’s leader in quantum computing. I will continue fighting to ensure the technology of tomorrow is developed right here in the Mohawk Valley.”
Elise Stefanik, a representative who has also been championing the quantum computing community in the area, commented: “I am proud to have secured over $10 million in investments for AFRL-Rome to partner with PsiQuantum to deliver quantum technology components to the Air Force. This investment bolsters our national security, further solidifies Upstate New York’s role as a defense technology hub, and continues Rome Lab’s incredible work ensuring the United States is the first nation to reach quantum advantage.”
This news follows PsiQuantum’s announcement in February of Omega, a quantum photonic chipset purpose-built for utility-scale quantum computing. Featured in a newly published paper in Nature, the chipset contains all the advanced components required to build million-qubit-scale quantum computers and deliver on the profoundly world-changing promise of the technology, the company says.
The Omega chipset is made in a high-volume semiconductor fab – GlobalFoundries’ Fab 8 in New York – which PsiQuantum highlights is the highest level of technical maturity and scale in a field that is often confined to research labs and small-scale prototypes. The company aims to break ground this year on two datacentre-sized Quantum Compute Centers in Brisbane, Australia and Chicago, Illinois.
